Tenant Spotlight – For FWD, Protection Goes Beyond Insurance

Insurance is built on a simple idea: we share risk so that none of us has to carry it alone.

For Rockson Leung, Chief Corporate Governance Officer, FWD Hong Kong and Macau — and Chair of its local ESG Committee — that principle reaches beyond helping more people access healthcare protection.

It can also mean giving young people confidence to navigate their future and thinking carefully about the places where we work and the resources we use.

We spoke about accessibility, the role of technology, why changing the way people feel about insurance starts with FWD’s own people and how its partnership with Swire Properties through the Green Performance Pledge is helping turn everyday workplace decisions into measurable progress.

You talk about accessibility as being central to sustainability at FWD. What does accessibility mean to you?

Rockson:

At its simplest, it means helping more people get the protection they need.

At FWD, a big part of our role is making insurance easier to understand, easier to access and more relevant to people’s lives. That might mean developing more innovative products that cover the uncovered, and using technology to simplify the insurance experience.

Insurance can be complex. Is simplicity part of the challenge?

Rockson:

Very much so.

Technology is helping us remove complexity. At FWD Hong Kong, our upgraded AI chatbot understands natural language, while an AI-powered assistant gives agents quicker access to product and customer insights so they can spend more time on meaningful conversations and customer service.

We’re also using AI in areas such as due diligence, screening and claims triage, helping make customer journeys simpler and more responsive. But technology is a means, not the end. Important decisions and complex situations remain in the hands of our people, where reassurance, judgement and empathy really matter.

The question isn’t, How much can we automate? It’s Where can technology make the experience simpler so our people can focus on the moments that require humanity?

And accessibility shapes the products themselves too?

Rockson:

Yes. In 2025, we introduced a medical insurance plan that specifically covers self-financed items in Hong Kong public hospitals and imaging tests referred to private medical institutions. These are costs that people without personal medical insurance often underestimate, so the plan helps more people access the medical support they need.

So we’re not only asking how we provide financial protection. We’re asking how that protection can be more useful in someone’s everyday life.

FWD’s vision is “changing the way people feel about insurance”. Feel is an interesting word for an insurer.

Rockson:

It is. 

Confidence in insurance starts long before someone ever makes a claim. That’s one reason our Community Care programmes focus so much on young people. We want to help them build financial literacy, wellbeing and resilience so they feel better prepared to thrive in the future.

In 2022, FWD partnered with Junior Achievement (JA) to co-create the JA SparktheDream programme, which combines financial, social and life skills education to strengthen primary school students' financial literacy. We further expanded the programme to include social and emotional learning in 2025.

We’ve also supported young people through initiatives focused on mentorship, life-planning, emotional resilience and sport, particularly through our support for the HKSAR Government-led Strive and Rise Programme.

Across these initiatives in Hong Kong, we’ve reached more than 9,600 students so far, mobilised over 230 FWD volunteers and contributed more than 1,000 volunteer hours.

Did that same focus on people influence the way you thought about FWD Tower?

Rockson:

Absolutely.

I believe changing the way people feel about insurance has to begin, at least in part, with how our own people feel about coming to work.

When we expanded our headquarters at Taikoo Place, we had an opportunity to ask fundamental questions about the kind of workplace we wanted to create. How do people actually work? Where do they collaborate? Where do they need quiet? What helps someone feel supported during the day?

Those questions shaped everything from flexible spaces and independent work pods to ergonomic furniture, a wellness corner, nursing rooms and fitness facilities.

Why stay at Taikoo Place?

Rockson:

We had already established a long relationship with both the place and Swire Properties. FWD has been at Taikoo Place since 2014.

There is also strong alignment with what we wanted from our next stage of growth. Taikoo Place was the first development in the Greater Bay Area to achieve LEED v4.1 for Existing Communities Platinum and it has strong connectivity and an active business community.

Our new lease at FWD Tower covers more than 330,000 square feet across 13 floors for a decade, bringing our Hong Kong teams and tied-agency force together under one roof.

So it wasn’t simply a move. It was an opportunity to think about what being together could enable.

And you’ve thought about how customers feel in the space too.

Rockson:

Yes. Our Insurance Solutions Centre on the 11th floor was designed around the idea of a nest—a sanctuary of assurance. We wanted people to feel a sense of nurturing and protection from the moment they enter. 

In our office, even the reception desk tells a story: it was crafted from an upcycled century-old tree.

A space tells people something about what an organisation values before anybody says a word.

You’re also part of Swire Properties’ Green Performance Pledge. What changed once you could see the environmental performance of the workplace more clearly?

Rockson:

Good decisions start with reliable information.

The GPP Tenant Portal gives us a clear view of our energy, water and waste performance. Our facilities team reviews the data regularly and progress feeds into ESG Committee discussions.

Once you can see where you are performing well and where there are gaps, you can make much more informed decisions.

Can you give us an example?

Rockson:

The data has helped inform the planning and fit-out of new floors at FWD Tower, including decisions around energy-efficient lighting and equipment, water-saving features and facilities that make waste reduction and recycling easier.

It also gives us a benchmark. Sustainability can sometimes feel abstract. Data makes progress visible.

You achieved GPP Gold in 2025/26. What does that recognition mean for FWD, and how do partnerships like GPP help you keep improving over the long term?

Rockson:

It matters because of what sits behind it.

The award itself is less important than having credible evidence that everyday actions are adding up. It gives our people something tangible to feel proud of and gives leadership confidence that progress is being measured.

But we see Gold as a baseline. Operating 13 floors with a growing workforce creates its own challenges and there is always more we can improve. Our ambition is to continue moving towards Platinum.

Insurance is fundamentally about the long term. How does that perspective shape FWD’s approach to sustainability, and where do partnerships like GPP fit into that long view?

Rockson:

As an insurer, we naturally think long term—we make promises measured in decades, not quarters. That perspective shapes how we think about widening access to protection, investing responsibly, managing risk and operating our workplaces.

No organisation can deliver sustainability on its own. GPP gives us a common framework, better information and access to Swire Properties’ technical expertise so we can keep improving.

There’s also shared accountability. As a tenant, there are things we can influence through how we design and operate our workplace. Swire Properties brings the wider building expertise, from technical performance and operations to placemaking.

Neither side has the whole answer.

For me, that’s what a good partnership looks like: understanding what each of us can change, sharing what we know and continuing to raise the bar together.

The GPP is Swire Properties' flagship programme towards achieving our SD 2050 Strategy and longstanding commitment to fighting climate change, in joint efforts with our office tenants in Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland. Learn more about the programme on the GPP Website.