AXA China Region is involved in underwriting and other aspects of the insurance business.

Goldman Sachs recommended the then-National Mutual Asia last year, saying the life insurance business would be one of the sectors to out-perform in the longer run if the economy worsened.

This proved to be unfortunate advice as the counter's 26 per cent growth has under-performed the Hang Seng Index's 63.6 per cent return over the past year.