Sun Life HK's CEO attacks with new business strategies

Appointed last August 2013, Wim Hekstra is responsible for growing the Sun Life Hong Kong business, which includes both an individual life and an industry-leading Pensions business. In this interview, Wim shares his take on the insurance industry and his clear vision for Sun Life Financial Hong Kong.

HKB: What three goals are you currently focused on?

Wim: My number one goal would be to grow our agency. Agency is still our most important channel for the life insurance business. We’re currently at 1400 agents and we would like to see if we can get that number to 2,000 or 2,500 in the next couple of years. The second is we’ve been very successful in our brokerage channels - IFA channels. We’d like to double that business in the next three years as well. And number three is to continue to be a strong player in the Mandatory Provident Fund schemes (MPF), our pension business.That’s another line of business we operate here and we’re currently with the Sun Life Plan’s number 7 and we target to be number 5. We also administer a lot of the plans from some of our competitors in the market so we have so-called Third Party Administration Company which is about three companies in Hong Kong. We would like to maintain that position.

HKB: What are the changes that you’re planning for Sun Life Financial Hong Kong under your leadership?

Wim: Well, we’ve been here for 122 years. We have a long, long history and a long track record. So the business has really been built step by step and it’s been very successful in the past 122 years so I’m not in the position to say that I will make drastic changes. It’s very much growing everything on a very solid foundation that we have built and a very solid agency. The most important thing in running a business is making sure that we have the right people in the right place. I’m putting a lot of effort in making sure that we have the right team spirit, the right culture, and that we work in a way which is efficient and effective. Sometimes, we’re talking about unnecessary burden of internal complexity, and eventually making sure that people can really focus on what matters to our customer, make sure that they do their job, and make sure that we continue to grow fast.

HKB: You’ve held senior positions in other companies in the previous years. How did that prepare you for the position you’re now holding?

Wim: I’ve been in Hong Kong for more than ten years now and that has put me in a very good foundation with what the market looks like, what drives the people, how does things work, its regulatory environment, and what kind of products there are. There’s a lot of experience which I probably bring with me and of course in Hong Kong, there’s a huge amount of influence from China. And in the past years we’re supposed to be on board of our businesses with China and in the previous companies it really helps to understand China dynamic as well. Probably a very good foundation and on top of that, because we’ve been divesting the business in ING which is very much an M&A job even though we’re not buying but we’re selling something at the other side of the table. So if you’re looking at acquisitions and building the business in Asia and in Hong Kong, I think that experience may become handy as well if we get into M&A mode.

HKB: What were some of the challenges that you encountered and how did you overcome them?

Wim: It’s hard to say that in six months I have achieved a lot and so I’m fortunate to be in a business which has performed very well but I think one of the challenges in the Hong Kong market as a whole is turnover of staff. There are many markets that are growing quite fast and most companies are expanding so I think one of the biggest challenges for industries including Sun Life is making sure you hire the right staff, that you can retain them and that you can offer them a good career within the company. That’s probably the issue which I’m focusing a lot on, making sure that Sun Life is becoming one of the best places to work. That means we really have to have good benefits and we also offer people education and training, a career rather than a job, and things like that. So that we can really make sure that recruit and retain the best people. I think that’s one of the challenges that’s facing Hong Kong market as a whole and also Sun Life.

HKB: What are the key businesses that you currently employ?

Wim: If you have a job, if you spend so much time in your work, I do believe it should have an element of fun. My recipe is really to make sure that if you do your job, you enjoy it. I also believe that if you enjoy your job, if you spend more time, then you become better at it.