Great Eastern began its operations in 1908 as a branch office of The Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited. The Malaysian operations was subsequently transferred to a locally incorporated public company, Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) Berhad under the Scheme of Transfer of Business. The Company was certified by the Malaysia Book of Records in 1998 as the "Oldest & Largest Life Insurer" in Malaysia.
With more than a century of experience and solid financial foundation, as of 31 December 2011 Great Eastern has RM53.7 billion in assets, over 2.9 million policies in force and a network of 17,000 agents nationwide.