Manulife Singapore just wrote a single US$300m life policy — a “jumbo” deal that signals how fast ultra-wealth planning is scaling up in Singapore.
Asia’s intergenerational wealth transfer is accelerating, and families want clean, contract-based certainty across borders.
For everyone else, the practical lesson is simple, streamline your estate planning now.
This article was written by a Financial Horse Contributor.
Manulife’s single US$300m policy
Manulife Singapore has issued a single US$300 million life insurance policy for one client — a deal that may be the largest of its kind in Singapore and the region.
Manulife says it has also issued 25 individual policies above US$50 million in the past 12 months, underlining how quickly the high-net-worth (HNW) segment has grown.
This is not just a big sale.
It’s a signal that life insurance is increasingly used as wealth infrastructure — sitting alongside trusts, private banks, and family offices — especially for families with assets and heirs spread across countries.
Why a single policy can get this large
At this end of the market, the “product” is often less about income replacement and more about solving three hard problems in one contract:
1) Instant liquidity when estates are illiquid
Families can be worth a lot on paper but still face a cash crunch at the worst moment (private businesses, property, private funds).
A large policy creates a known pool of cash so heirs aren’t forced into a rushed sale.
HSBC Life Singapore’s CEO framed the appeal as “legacy certainty and estate liquidity,” especially when markets are volatile.
2) Cross-border simplicity
Many wealthy families now have assets, heirs, and tax exposure in multiple places.
In an interview with Asia Insurance Review, HSBC Life’s CEO said insurance can act as a “streamlined, jurisdictionally neutral vehicle” for passing wealth.
When assets, heirs, and legal systems span multiple places, wealthy families pay for certainty — a clearer set of payout rules and timing, rather than leaving everything to a slow, document-heavy estate process.
3) Control and privacy in distribution
In many cases, payouts can be faster and more private than traditional estate settlement.
Especially considering the mutliple lawsuits that eventually bubble to the surface when it comes to large family estates.
The details still depend on how the policy is owned and how beneficiaries are set up — but the direction of travel is clear.
The bigger tailwind: Asia’s wealth handover is accelerating
A key reason these deals are appearing now is the scale of the coming wealth transfer.
McKinsey estimates that UHNW and HNW families in Asia–Pacific will transfer about US$5.8 trillion between 2023 and 2030, and notes this is helping fuel more family offices and more specialised planning.
Singapore sits right in the middle of that shift.
Reuters has reported that the number of family offices in Singapore grew to about 2,000 by end-2024, and that authorities have been working to shorten timelines for tax incentives to within three months for most applications, while tightening standards after the 2023 money laundering case.
Singapore is a natural place for these deals. Singapore’s pitch is not just safety; it’s operability: banks, lawyers, trustees, tax advisers, and insurers can execute complicated plans within a well-defined rulebook.
What this means for personal wealth planning
You don’t need a US$300m policy to apply the main lesson: the biggest real-life failures are usually about liquidity and paperwork, not market returns.
Singapore has no estate duty for deaths on and after 15 Feb 2008, so the local driver for many families is less “estate tax” and more speed, clarity, and avoiding disputes or delays.
Focus on four “plumbing” items:
- Liquidity plan (cash when it matters)
Know what your family would need quickly: 6–24 months of household spending, any loans, and known near-term commitments. The goal is to avoid forced selling of investments at a bad time. - Beneficiary decisions (who gets what, fast)
Insurance nominations are not just admin.
A trust nomination can change ownership rights — LIA’s consumer guide notes that with a trust nomination, the policyowner “will lose all rights to the ownership of the policy” and proceeds belong to the nominees named. - CPF is separate — make a CPF nomination
CPF Board explains that CPF savings are distributed to nominees in cash, and it will contact nominees within 10 working days after being notified of death; without a CPF nomination, distribution goes via the Public Trustee process and can take longer. - Plan for incapacity, not just death
An LPA lets you appoint someone to act for you if you lose mental capacity, covering personal welfare and/or property and affairs.
Why this matters for the industry right now
The high-end segment is growing alongside the broader market.
The life insurance sector recorded S$6.53b in total weighted new business premiums in 2025 (+11.3% year-on-year), per LIA Singapore.
As wealth inflows rise and scrutiny tightens, insurers that can combine scale + governance + clean beneficiary mechanics will likely take a larger share of HNW planning flows — and Manulife’s US$300m issuance is the clearest “proof point” so far.
As HSBC Life’s CEO put it, the attraction is “predictability in an unpredictable world.”
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