Continuity as the new currency: How insurers must adapt to Asia’s shifting wealth landscape

Christopher Albrecht

CEO, Sun Life Singapore

Asia’s wealth story is being rewritten in real time – not in decades, but in single market cycles. Over the next few years, the region’s affluent families will face a convergence of forces: a vast intergenerational wealth transfer, a longevity revolution, and rising climate pressures that are reshaping investment and protection priorities.

For insurers, these megatrends represent both an inflection point and an invitation: to move beyond traditional notions of coverage and toward holistic continuity planning that sustains family enterprises, protects legacies, and delivers liquidity when it matters most.

The Great Wealth Transfer: More than a financial event

For many affluent families, the question is no longer just “how do we grow wealth?” but also “how do we keep it working smoothly through a change in leadership?” This is not bookkeeping. It is the largest handover of power, control, and responsibility in Asia’s modern history, and it is happening in boardrooms, dining rooms, and family offices every day.

This transition will shape the trajectory of family businesses, philanthropy, and private capital across Asia. But it also exposes vulnerabilities. Succession plans often assume the founder will live to see them through. In reality, the sudden loss of a principal can trigger leadership uncertainty, liquidity shortfalls, and family conflict, even in well-run enterprises.

Insurers have an opportunity to play a pivotal role. Key person cover and liquidity-driven solutions can provide the financial stability needed to protect businesses and maintain family harmony through these transitions. The real value insurers can provide is continuity, ensuring leadership changes do not destabilise the family or its enterprises.

Longevity and the “Three-Generation Squeeze”

Meanwhile, advances in medicine and healthcare are extending lifespans by two or three decades beyond traditional retirement ages. It may be a testament to modern society’s advancement in science and technology, but it also introduces a new set of financial realities.

Essentially, the math has changed. Rather than being an endpoint, retirement may make up an entire third (or more) of a person’s lifetime.

Across the region, families are being pulled in three directions at once – supporting ageing parents, funding their own extended lifespans, and preparing children for a future that now stretches far beyond traditional career arcs.

These overlapping obligations stretch resources and complicate succession timing and can place a tremendous financial burden on the appropriately named “Sandwich Generation”, and even the affluent are not spared.

For insurers, longevity demands solutions that can sustain wealth across decades, not just a single generation. Protection products must combine long-term coverage with flexibility, adapting to evolving needs as families age and diversify. Indexed Universal Life (IUL) solutions, for instance, offer both protection and the potential for investment growth, making them a cornerstone for families seeking to balance security and capital efficiency.

Sustainability and the new purpose of wealth

A third megatrend shaping Asia’s wealthy families is the increasing focus on sustainability. A rising generation now faces a different kind of inheritance – one that includes assets, influence, and the perceived obligation to define their purpose.

Their ambition is not just to grow wealth, but to deploy it with intention, solving problems their parents never had to contemplate. They want their capital to have purpose – to support environmental innovation, inclusive growth, and responsible enterprise.

But climate change also presents tangible financial risks. Rising sea levels, extreme weather, and supply-chain disruption threaten both personal and business assets. For families with cross-border holdings, these risks are amplified.

Insurance that integrates environmental risk management, from property protection to business continuity, will become essential. Likewise, insurers must recognise that clients’ definitions of “legacy” are evolving. For many, it is no longer just about wealth preservation or having a financial safety net, but about ensuring that their financial footprint aligns with their values.

This shift offers insurers a dual role – to protect against physical risks and to enable families to pursue long-term, sustainable ambitions with confidence.

The gaps: Engagement, customisation, and service

Despite the growth in Asia’s wealthy population, engagement between U/HNW families and insurers remains limited. Many family offices are run by former bankers, more comfortable with investment portfolios than with insurance as a strategic planning tool. As a result, insurance is often under-used in estate and succession planning, leaving liquidity gaps at critical junctures.

Equally, the HNW segment is too often treated as a monolith. In reality, wealthy families’ needs vary widely, from entrepreneurs with illiquid business holdings to globally mobile heirs managing assets across continents. Yet too many providers still behave as if one client is interchangeable with another – a misstep that wealthy families recognise instantly.

The opportunity for insurers lies in structuring – solutions tailored to the family’s generational mix, cross-border exposure, and legacy objectives. Flexibility in benefit design, currency denomination, and payout structure will differentiate providers who understand the nuances of U/HNW planning.

But even the most sophisticated product cannot substitute for service. Families expect high-touch engagement marked by discretion, empathy, and seamless delivery, especially during moments of loss or transition. Product innovation creates value; exceptional service earns trust. The insurers that combine both will stand apart in a crowded market.

From product provider to continuity partner

To make an impact in this evolving landscape, insurers must think beyond policies and embrace partnership. That means engaging earlier in the wealth-planning conversation – alongside trustees, lawyers, and family-office advisers – to ensure liquidity is built into succession structures from the outset.

It also means strengthening capabilities across borders, as wealth increasingly moves between jurisdictions. Solutions that can adapt to multiple tax regimes and currencies, while remaining simple to administer, will become the standard expectation among Asia’s U/HNW.

Ultimately, the greatest opportunity lies not in selling protection, but in providing peace of mind. Families are not buying insurance. They are buying time, stability, and the right to pass on both wealth and intention – uninterrupted.

As Asia enters this new era of wealth stewardship, insurers who blend technical expertise with cultural sensitivity, flexibility, and genuine empathy will define the next frontier of financial services – one built both on protection and continuity.