Ten insurers now sit inside the Insurance Authority’s (IA) AI Cohort Programme following the addition of three new core participants at the regulator’s AI Cohort Symposium on June 15, 2026. The programme launched in August 2025 and has grown to 10 members in under a year, with its roster now including major market names such as AIA Group, Manulife, Prudential, and AXA. The three firms joining in the latest batch are BOC Group Life Assurance Company Limited, China Life Insurance (Overseas) Company Limited, and Manulife (International) Limited.
Membership in the programme carries defined obligations. Core participants are required to establish a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for AI in Hong Kong, contribute to the city’s positioning as a regional AI hub, support the development of a local AI ecosystem, build internal AI talent, and share knowledge with other stakeholders across the industry. Each participant also signs an AI Pledge, committing to responsible and ethical AI use. IA chairman Stephen Yiu (pictured), speaking at the Symposium, pointed to a shift in how insurers are internally managing their AI work. “Insurers are showing stronger ownership and governance, with greater discipline in choosing use cases that support business value and customer outcomes,” he said.
Yiu also framed AI adoption as a collective undertaking that extends beyond individual firms. “Hong Kong’s artificial intelligence and Insurtech ecosystem has continued to strengthen, with more solution providers bringing capabilities relevant to core insurance functions. This matters because AI adoption does not happen in isolation. It depends on insurers, technology companies, and the broader ecosystem progressing together,” he said. At the Symposium, participants outlined CoE plans, talent pipelines, and deployment roadmaps. Cyberport and the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park discussed cross-sector collaboration, while technology vendors presented their offerings to attendees.
BOC Life’s entry into the programme comes as the insurer directs AI investment toward cross-border retirement and healthcare – areas it identified as priorities under its Greater Bay Area (GBA) growth strategy. The company has begun work on a dedicated AI CoE, intended to serve as a platform for deploying AI solutions internally and for knowledge exchange with local start-ups. The insurer’s AI strategy is organised around four areas: improving customer interactions through technology, upskilling staff in AI competencies, encouraging cross-departmental collaboration, and lifting operational efficiency through process improvements.
Wilson Tang, chief executive of BOC Life, framed the programme entry as a continuation of a strategy the company has pursued for some time. “Digital transformation has long been a central pillar to BOC Life’s growth strategy. As we continue to advance our digital transformation journey, we remain steadfast in upholding our ‘People centricity’ principle, striving to strike a balance between AI innovation and responsible governance,” Tang said. He pointed to the company’s parent group structure as a factor in its capacity to scale AI across borders. “By leveraging the synergies of our niche ‘Banking + Insurance’ and ‘Insurance +’ models, we aim to create sustainable long-term value and unlock new growth opportunities across the Greater Bay Area,” he said.
Manulife Hong Kong enters the programme with a number of AI tools already in operation or in development across distribution, customer experience, underwriting, and claims – a broader functional footprint than many insurers have disclosed publicly. Specific tools include a bilingual AI assistant handling customer enquiries around the clock, a data-driven sales tool for agents, and a separate AI assistant for agents working on new business and underwriting questions. The company recently disclosed a partnership with Alibaba Cloud to co-develop AI applications, with a joint AI hub under consideration as part of that arrangement. A governance framework, the company said, underpins all AI activities to meet compliance and security requirements.
Patrick Graham, CEO of Manulife Hong Kong and Macau, connected the programme participation to a wider organisational shift. “AI is rapidly transforming the insurance landscape, enabling insurers to reimagine how we serve customers while driving greater efficiency and resilience. Through this initiative, alongside our continued investment in AI capabilities and talent, we aim to scale the responsible adoption of AI across our business, deepen collaboration and knowledge sharing with industry partners, and contribute to the broader application of AI across the sector,” he said.
China Life Insurance (Overseas) Company Limited also joins as a core participant in this latest batch. The company has not issued a separate public statement on its participation at the time of publication. With 10 core participants now enrolled, the programme’s next phase will be shaped by what participants actually deliver against their commitments – CoE establishment, talent development, and knowledge sharing across the industry and with the regulator. At the Symposium, Yiu pointed to the ecosystem dimension as a continuing area of focus, suggesting the IA views broader technology and industry collaboration as central to where the programme goes from here. The full list of core participants now stands at: AIA Group, AXA Hong Kong and Macau, BOC Group Life Assurance Company Limited, China Life Insurance (Overseas) Company Limited, China Taiping Insurance (HK) Company Limited, FWD Group, HSBC Life (International) Limited, Manulife (International) Limited, Prudential Hong Kong Limited, and YF Life Insurance International Limited.
