23/08/2002(Announcement)

Great Eastern Life has cancelled its interactive rating contract with Standard & Poor’s in March 2002

After the merger with Overseas Assurance Corporation in Dec 2000, Great Eastern sought an S & P rating for the whole Group. However, we were not satisfied with S & P’s group rating methodology and therefore decided to cancel the contract with Standard & Poor’s. This was reported in The Straits Times on 27 March 2002.

In cancelling the contract with S & P, the Great Eastern Group is confident that, with our full compliance with the Singapore Exchange’s Code of Corporate Governance together with our policy of greater disclosure and transparency in the way we conduct our business, all our policyholders and shareholders will be apprised of the financial strength of the Company.

The Great Eastern Group is the largest asset-based insurer in Singapore, with assets totaling $26.9 billion as at 30 June 2002.

Another indicator of our strong financial profile and capitalisation is the size of our Life Assurance Funds. As at 30 June 2002, the Group’s Life Funds stood at $22.7 billion, represented by $19.34 billion of Liabilities relating to Policyholders’ Benefits and $3.36 billion of Life Fund Surplus.

If we add the Group’s Shareholders’ Funds of $1.61 billion to the total Life Fund Surplus of $3.36 billion, we have a sum of $4.97 billion, which works out to as high as nearly 28% of the Liabilities relating to Policyholders’ Benefits, excluding Investment-Linked Funds.

We are also very pleased with the Group’s performance in capturing the leading market share of new life business in Singapore and Malaysia. For example, in the first half of 2002, the Group has captured 29% of Singapore’s total new business life premiums, while in Malaysia, we have been the market leader all along.