Groves will join AIA as executive vice president and group chief marketing officer in January, succeeding Christopher Wei who left AIA to join Singapore-based Great Eastern as its new chief executive officer.
Most recently, Groves was senior vice president and head of international marketing and direct to consumer channels at MetLife International, previously Alico. Based in Hong Kong, Groves will take charge of AIA's marketing functions including strategy and planning, product management, branding, business intelligence, customer and digital marketing.
"He will oversee AIA Group's strategic marketing functions with the ultimate goal of helping AIA attract and retain customers," said Mark Tucker, AIA Group executive chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement. AIA was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this October.
With almost 30 years of marketing experience in financial services, Tucker said Groves' appointment makes a valuable addition to AIA's leadership team. Groves was chief marketing officer at GE Money in the United Kingdom and Ireland and he also worked 27 years with Barclays and Barclaycard in the United Kingdom for channel strategy, customer marketing and marketing communications.
With more than 300,000 agents and 24,000 employees in the Asia/Pacific region, AIA owns more than 23 million individual policies and more than 10 million group policies. The life insurance group has a presence in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, Macau and Brunei. It offers insurance business in life, retirement planning, accident, health and wealth management products.