Non life insurance – a profitable business in Hong Kong: Ken Research

New Delhi, July 08, 2017: The Hong Kong economy is considered to have the highest degree of economic freedom in the world and is one of the leading international financial markets. It has one of the most effective taxation systems, a low level of corruption, a very strong banking and legal system and is the third largest recipient of FDI in the world. The FDI limit for the insurance sector is 100% which greatly improves the sector’s performance. Hong Kong is prone to natural disasters such as floods, storms, earthquakes and wildfires. This makes the insurance sector all the more important. Also, the country has high per capital insurance premium and is considered to be the most developed insurance market in the region.

According to the statistics as at 31 December 2016 provided by the Insurance Agents Registration Board (“IARB”), there were 2,482 insurance agencies, 63,148 individual agents and 26,835 responsible officers/technical representatives registered with the IARB. As at 31 December 2016, there were 160 authorized insurers in Hong Kong, of which 94 were pure non life insurers, 47 were pure long term insurers and the remaining 19 were composite insurers. General insurance sector recorded a modest growth in 2015, with total gross premiums increased by 5.4% to $45,983 million while underwriting profit decreased by 60.7% to $1,193 million.

There has been a decline in claims of non life insurance but inspite of the decline of claims experience, many of the business reported an underwriting profit. Huge profits were also registered by the Goods in Transit business and Accident & Health business. The two major classes of compulsory business, direct Motor Vehicle business and direct EC business had registered underwriting losses

AXA General Insurance Hong Kong, China Taiping Insurance (HK) Company Limited, Bupa (Asia) Limited, Zurich Insurance Company Ltd, Bank of China Group Insurance Company Limited, QBE Hong Kong & Shanghai Insurance Limited, AIG Insurance Hong Kong Limited, Blue Cross (Asia-Pacific) Insurance Limited, Chubb Insurance Hong Kong Limited and AXA China Region Insurance Company Limited had been the 10 leading insurers in Hong Kong.

According to the research report “ Non-Life Insurance in Hong Kong, Key Trends and Opportunities to 2020 ”, the intermediaries between policy holders and the authorised insurers are the insurance agents and brokers. The insurance agents are affiliated with some or the other insurance company but the brokers are not contracted through any insurance company. As at end-June 2016, there were 2,482 insurance agencies and 56,809 individual agents registered with the Insurance Agents Registration Board, and 744 authorised insurance brokers who are the members of the approved bodies of insurance brokers, namely The Hong Kong Confederation of Insurance Brokers and Professional Insurance Brokers Association. The insurance sector is regulated by Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI), which has set up a regulatory framework and guidelines for the insurers and insurance intermediaries.

Key Topics Covered in the Report:

Global Non-Life Insurance Industry

Hong Kong Non- Life Insurance Market Research

Non-Life Insurance Sector Trends Hong Kong

Hong Kong General Insurance Regulations

Motor Insurance Market Research Hong Kong

Property Insurance Sector Hong Kong

Health Insurance Demand Hong Kong

Hong Kong Automobile Industry Research

Hong Kong Four Wheeler Demand

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