April 2014 Issue No. 211
New Governing Committee
The Annual General Meeting held today approved the formation of a new Governing Committee for 2014/2015 as follows:
Chairman
Deputy Chairman Members
Mr Jimmy Poon Mr Mike Lee
Mr David Alexander
Mr P L Chan
Ms Agnes Choi
Mr Stuart Fraser
Mr Ronnie Ng
Mr Andy Robinson
Mr Lennard Yong
Mr Allan Yu
Insurance Industry's Consultation Session on Political Reform
At the captioned session jointly organised by the HKFI and Legislative Councillor K P Chan on 14 April 2014, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Mr Raymond Tam and Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Mr James Lau briefed us on the methods for selecting the CE in 2017 and for forming the Legco in 2016.
On behalf of the HKFI, I reaffirmed our support in principle of maintaining the Functional Constituencies and presented a proposal on expanding the electorate base by: (i) replacing the existing “corporate votes” by “directors’/senior executives’ votes"; and (ii) extending votes to insurance organisations recognised/approved by the SAR Government. For details of our proposal, please visit our website at: http://www.hkfi.org.hk/pdf/lv032_14.pdf
Establishment of the Independent Insurance Authority (IIA)
The Insurance Companies (Amendment) Bill 2014 was gazetted. While we are pleased to note that the Administration has taken into the account some of our comments, there still remain some issues of grave concern. Specifically, we wrote two separate letters to the FSTB registering our concerns on "the principle of acting in the best interest of policyholders" and "formation of the disciplinary committee", and in our third letter to Professor K C Chan, we recapped all the outstanding issues which required to be addressed carefully. The objective is to ensure the smooth launching and effective operation of the IIA.
As a next step, we will commission a counsel soon to help review the Bill clause by clause and we are in the process of organizing an interactive forum with the Hong Kong Insurance Law Association (HILA) to examine those outstanding issues and provide constructive input to the Bills Committee. On this we will keep you apprised of progress in the months ahead.
Arbitration - Reinsurance/Insurance-Alternative Disputes Resolution
Another event we are co-organising with the HILA in May 2014 is the induction course on the captioned. Seasoned arbitrators and insurance practitioner will provide an overview of how arbitration works in the context of insurance and share their first hand experience in employing arbitration in claims handling. This will be followed by an in-depth session to be conducted by renowned academia Professor Robert Merkin in June. Don't miss this rare opportunity of getting more insight about arbitration! (Circular Ref: Mv046/14)
Annual Reception 2014
The above event was held on 16 April 2014. We had more than 180 guests and representatives of Member Companies joining us. It was a delightful evening and the speech made by Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Professor K C Chan was inspiring. We really appreciate your support and participation. Photos of the event are available at : http://www.hkfi.org.hk/#!/about-the-hkfi/album/49
Visitors
At the referral of the Trade Development Council, we received a senior delegation from the life insurance sector of Japan on 22 April 2014 and gave them an update about the insurance markets in Hong Kong and the Mainland.
On 23 April 2014, two representatives from the Guangdong Insurance Association visited the HKFI and we shared with them our self-regulatory function, public education and CSR programmes and services rendered to our Members and the insuring public.
Acknowledgement
As I am stepping down from the chairmanship, I would like to say thank you to all of my colleagues on the Governing Committee, the General and Life Insurance Councils, Task Forces, Technical Associations, Working Groups, staff at the HKFI secretariat and friends within and outside the industry. Your support and wise counsel are deeply appreciated. My best wishes to all new office bearers for every success in meeting the many challenges ahead.
2014/2015 General Insurance Council
May I offer my best wishes to the newly-formed General Insurance Council: Elected Councillors
Mr Ronnie Ng (Chairman) China Overseas Insurance Ltd
Mr P L Chan (D/Chairman) China Taiping Insurance (HK) Co Ltd
Mr Marc Breuil AIG Insurance Hong Kong Limited
Mr James Chan Wing Lung Insurance Co Ltd
Ms Agnes Choi AXA General Insurance Hong Kong Limited
Mr Lobo Law QBE Hongkong & Shanghai Insurance Ltd
Ms Kelly Mok Prudential General Insurance HK Limited
Mr William Ng Tugu Insurance Co Ltd
Mr Jimmy Poon Dah Sing Insurance Company (1976) Ltd
Mr Harry Wong Hong Leong Insurance (Asia) Ltd
Mr K H Wong Asia Insurance Co Ltd
Mr Allan Yu Zurich Insurance Co Ltd
Ex-officio Councillors
Mr Terry Tsang Medical Insurance Association Chairman
Ms Vivian Ho Marine Insurance Association Chairman
Mr Billy Lau Accident Insurance Association Chairman
Ms Teresa Ma Fire Insurance Association Chairman
Mr Sammy Lau Reinsurers’ Forum Convenor
Technical Associations
The various Technical Associations have also elected their respective deputy chairmen/convenor as follows:
Accident Insurance Association – Mr Jacob Choy
Fire Insurance Association – Mr Dennis Chow
Marine Insurance Association – Mr Patrick Wong
Medical Insurance Association – Ms Zenda Chan
Reinsurers' Forum - Mr Franz Hahn
2014/2015 Life Insurance Council
Also, I would like to extend my best wishes to the following members of the newly-formed Life Insurance Council:
Elected Councillors
Mr Stuart Fraser (Chairman) Ageas Insurance Co (Asia) Ltd
Mr Andy Robinson (D/Chairman) Zurich Int’l Life Ltd
Mr David Alexander Swiss Reinsurance Co Ltd
Ms Charity Au BOC Group Life Assurance Co Ltd
Mr Praveen Mohan Daswani Generali Int’l Ltd
Mr Stuart Harrison AXA China Region Insurance Co (B) Ltd
Mr Wim Hekstra Sun Life Hong Kong Limited
Mr Nigel Ke Manulife (Int’l) Ltd
Mr Thomas Lee AIA Int’l Ltd
Mr Lennard Yong MetLife Limited
Mr Derek Yung Prudential Hong Kong Limited
Ex-officio Councillor
Mr Mike Lee MassMutual Asia Limited
HKFI Membership
As at 30 April 2014, the HKFI has 87 General Insurance Members and 43 Life Insurance Members.