Great Eastern Holdings
Singapore's largest life insurer by assets, majority owned by OCBC Bank.
On the record
Checkpoint: Next quarterly results and any update on share resumption or Class C bonus share mechanics
The call
Great Eastern's business runs on record profit and market leadership while its shares sit suspended under an unresolved OCBC ownership standoff.
Great Eastern Holdings sells life insurance and retirement products to millions of customers across Singapore and Malaysia. It is hard to replace because it has a huge amount of money invested, decades of customer information that competitors do not have, thousands of agents who sell directly to customers, and a special partnership with OCBC bank that locks customers in. The company itself is very stable and secure for employees. However, the parent company OCBC owns most of the shares and wants to take the company private; the stock has been frozen since July 2024 after a privatization vote failed, and this could create problems if you hold stock options as part of your pay.
Why
01
AI pressure: None apparent. No scaled AI-native insurer has taken share in Singapore or Malaysia; GEH itself uses AI for underwriting and claims processing. Could AI do the core job? Unlikely.
02
Bigger players: OCBC Bank (majority owner). OCBC holds 93.7% and still intends to delist; a failed 2025 vote means another buyout attempt is expected within years. Could a giant copy it? No, they are blocked.
03
What protects it. Regulated capital reserves, OCBC bancassurance distribution, 13,000-agent force, and decades of proprietary underwriting data.
What would change this call
GEH's TWNS and NBEV figures in FY26 results versus FY25's S$1,535.4M/S$739.7M. Shows whether new-business decline is a one-off or a sustained share loss trend.
Resolution of OCBC's Class C non-voting bonus share plan and trading resumption timeline. Shows whether ownership overhang is stabilizing or further destabilizing the business.
Malaysia medical insurance premium/claims ratio disclosures in upcoming quarterly filings. Shows whether regulatory medical-cost pressure is compressing GEH's Malaysia margins.
Resolution of OCBC's Class C non-voting bonus share plan and trading resumption timeline. Shows whether ownership overhang is stabilizing or further destabilizing the business.
Malaysia medical insurance premium/claims ratio disclosures in upcoming quarterly filings. Shows whether regulatory medical-cost pressure is compressing GEH's Malaysia margins.
Key numbers
- FY2025 profit hit S$1,207.1M, up 21% y-o-y
- New Business Embedded Value rose 19% to S$739.7M
- Total assets over S$122B; 16M+ policyholders
Named risks
- Shares suspended since July 2024 with unresolved delisting/resumption plan, creating equity liquidity risk.
- Malaysia medical cost inflation and new market requirements pressuring margins from 2025 onward.
- Total Weighted New Sales declined 15% in FY2025 despite profit growth.
- Ongoing governance tension between OCBC and minority Wong family shareholders.
- Potential fresh OCBC privatisation attempt could reshape ownership at an unclear valuation.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Income Insurance | losing to | GEH ranked #2 in brand health (23.6) behind Income Insurance (26.5) as of 2023-12 |
| Singlife | gaining on | Singlife showed fastest YoY brand-health improvement among Singapore insurers, 2023 data |
| AIA | contesting | GEH ranked #1 by assets in Singapore/Malaysia vs AIA #2, per 2023-07 industry ranking |
| Prudential | contesting | GEH led brand health score 23.6 vs Prudential 16.2 as of 2023-12 |
| Manulife | contesting | GEH brand health 23.6 vs Manulife 8.0 as of 2023-12 |
Questions people ask
- Is Great Eastern Holdings profitable in 2025?
- Yes. Great Eastern Holdings reported a record FY2025 profit attributable to shareholders of S$1,207.1 million, up 21% year-on-year from S$995.3 million in FY2024, as of 31 December 2025, driven partly by favourable investment performance.
- Can I still buy or sell Great Eastern Holdings shares?
- No. GEH shares have been suspended from SGX trading since 15 July 2024 after OCBC's stake pushed free float below 10%. A July 2025 delisting vote failed (63.5% vs the required 75%), leaving shares suspended pending a resumption-of-trading plan.
- Who owns Great Eastern Holdings?
- OCBC, Singapore's second-largest bank, is the majority owner, holding roughly 93.72% of Great Eastern Holdings following a voluntary general offer that closed in October 2024. The remaining ~6.28% is held by minority shareholders, including the founding Wong family.
- Is it safe to take a job at Great Eastern Holdings given the delisting saga?
- Operationally yes: the insurer is AA/AA- rated by Fitch/S&P with S$122 billion in assets and 16 million policyholders as of 31 December 2025. The delisting overhang since July 2024 affects share liquidity and equity compensation, not core job security.
- Could AI replace Great Eastern's insurance advisors?
- Unlikely soon. GEH deployed an AI-enabled advisory platform in 2025 to cut advisor prep time (company describes prep down to about 30 minutes), but underwriting still requires a regulated license and its 13,000-strong tied agency force remains central to distribution.
- Who is Great Eastern Holdings' biggest competitor?
- In Singapore and Malaysia life insurance, AIA, Prudential, Manulife, Singlife and Income Insurance are the main rivals. A 2023 YouGov brand-health ranking placed GEH second (score 23.6) behind Income Insurance (26.5), ahead of AIA, Prudential, Singlife and Manulife.
Timeline
- 2026-05-061Q-26 profit attributable to shareholders flat at S$346.3 million
- 2026-05-05FY25 results release confirms S$122B+ assets and 16M+ policyholders
- 2026-02-23FY2025 record profit of S$1,207.1 million reported, up 21% YoY
- 2026-02-02Appointed Group Head of Digital Marketing and Platforms in AI-focused rebrand
- 2025-10-20Coverage details AI advisory platform and 13,000-agent advisory network
- 2025-07-09OCBC's exit offer lapses, GEH shares remain suspended
- 2025-07-08EGM delisting vote fails at 63.5%, short of 75% threshold
- 2025-06-06OCBC proposes second conditional exit offer at S$30.15/share
- 2024-10-31OCBC ownership reaches roughly 93.72% after voluntary general offer closes
- 2024-07-15GEH shares suspended from SGX trading after free float falls below 10%
Revision history
26 July 2026
First assessed. Hard to displace. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Important information (2026-02-23)
- Great Eastern's net profit rose 21% y-o-y in FY2025 (2026-02-23)
- 1Q-26 Financial Summary (2026-05-06)
- FY-25 Financial Summary (2026-02-24)
- Great Eastern Reports Record Full-Year Profit (2026-05-05)
- Great Eastern Leans on AI and Niche Products (2025-10-20)
- Singapore Business Review's Insurance Rankings (2023-07-11)
- NTUC Income, DBS PayLah! most favourably perceived (2024-01-24)
- 'It's our grandfather's company, we won't sell' (2025-07-08)
- OCBC backs Great Eastern's delisting proposal (2025-06-06)
- Great Eastern to resume trading as delisting bid fails (2025-07-09)
- Great Eastern achieves seamless customer service with Pega (2025-02-21)