(Yicai) Feb. 26 -- AIA Life Insurance, a subsidiary of Asian insurance giant AIA Group which specializes in life insurance services in the Chinese mainland, has appointed the former chief executive officer of AIA China as its new chairman, filling a position that had been vacant for nearly four months.

Zhang Xiaoyu has been given the greenlight by regulators to take the helm of AIA Life Insurance, Yicai learned from sources familiar with the matter. His predecessor, Lee Yuan Siong, resigned at the end of October last year due to work arrangements but continues to serve as CEO and president of the Hong Kong-based AIA Group.

An actuary by profession, 48-year-old Zhang has worked at AIA for over 24 years. In 2017, he became the youngest CEO of AIA China in the company's history and was promoted to regional CEO in November last year, overseeing operations in the mainland, South Korea and Vietnam.

During his tenure, Zhang helped AIA China obtain independent legal entity status. AIA Life Insurance was established in 2020, becoming the mainland’s first wholly foreign-owned life insurance company after Chinese regulators lifted restrictions on foreign ownership in the insurance sector.

Thanks to these efforts, AIA's business in the Chinese mainland has expanded rapidly in recent years. Its operations have grown from Beijing, Shanghai, southern Guangdong province and eastern Jiangsu province to include the municipality of Chongqing, the southwestern province of Sichuan and the eastern provinces of Shandong, Anhui and Zhejiang. Some of these regions have received regulatory approval but are not yet in operation.

AIA operates in 18 markets across Asia and Australia. In the first half of last year, the firm's new business value surged 25 percent year-on-year to USD2.5 billion, according to its interim report. New business value from the mainland soared 36 percent to a record USD782 million.

Editor: Kim Taylor