Richard Li builds an Asian insurer

FWD Group's new chief executive Huynh Thanh Phong has hit the ground running: forging a pan-Asian insurer out of new ventures across Southeast Asia and a multi-billion-dollar business bought from Dutch bank ING last year — while scouting for more acquisitions.

Huynh is bringing to life a plan drawn up by Hong Kong-based businessman Richard Li, Li Ka-Shing's younger son, to create a pan-Asian player selling insurance to the region’s emerging affluent classes. In the most complete picture so far, FinanceAsia maps out FWD’s expansion across the region from Indonesia to Hong Kong and explains why FWD is targeting acquisitions in Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia.