June 2014
Issue No. 212
New Member
On behalf of the Governing Committee, I would like to extend a warm welcome to Peak Reinsurance Company Limited joining the HKFI our Life Insurance Member as well.
Establishment of the Independent Insurance Authority (IIA)
The Legislative Council's Bills Committee held a public hearing on 24 June 2014. In addition to making a written submission detailing our concerns and suggested solutions (www.hkfi.org.hk/ pdf/20140624_HKFI%20submission_Eng.pdf), we had six representatives speaking at the hearing. They included Mr Allan Yu, Mr Ambrose Cheung, Mr Mike Lee, Mr Ronnie Ng, Mr Ben Chung and Mr Steven Kwok representing the HKFI, Insurance Agents Registration Board, Life Insurance Council, General Insurance Council, Employees' Compensation Insurance Residual Scheme Bureau and Insurance Claims Complaints Bureau respectively. Thanks to their excellent presentations, we were able to articulate the following key areas of concern directly to the lawmakers:
˙Industry knowledge on the Board and Industry Advisory Committees;
˙Internal oversight of disciplinary functions;
˙Inappropriate new civil claims;
˙Preventing excessive financial penalties;
˙Publication of disciplinary decisions under appeal;
˙Accessibility of the appeals mechanism; and
˙Undue restrictions on insurance agent.
Our views were echoed by the presentations made by the various stakeholders at the hearing. It demonstrated the fact that these are fundamental issues affecting the entire industry and it would render the future regulatory framework unfit for purpose if they are not properly addressed. That said, we wish to reiterate that we are supportive of the establishment of the IIA. Given its importance and far-reaching impact on our industry and the insuring public, however, we will continue to step up our efforts to work with all stakeholders to get the Bill right.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank Chairman of the Task Force, Mr Allan Yu, for his great efforts in steering this project.
Going forward, our legal consultant will help us to conduct a thorough review of the Bill clause by clause and with the help of the Honourable K P Chan, we are lining up a series of meetings with members of the Bills Committee to put across our concerns and suggested solutions.
Hong Kong Insurance Awards 2014
I am delighted to announce the official launch of the Hong Kong Insurance Awards 2014.
16 exciting categories are set up to acknowledge outstanding accomplishment of insurance companies/teams and individual practitioners in different fields. For details of the Awards and the latest list of honourable judges, please visit the Awards official website at http://www.metroradio.com.hk/Campaign/2014/104/HKIA/. The deadline for application is 8 August 2014. Action now and compete for excellence!
Qualification Framework (QF) for Insurance Industry
The Specification of Competency Standards (SCS) for the insurance industry has been officially published in April 2014. Thanks to the Insurance Authority, there is now a formal mechanism recognising QFaccredited courses as qualified Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities. On 26 June 2014, the Insurance Industry Training Advisory Committee and the HKFI jointly organised a seminar to promote the use of the SCS. More than 120 industry practitioners involved in training and recruitment participated in this seminar and
Investment Linked Assurance Schemes (ILAS)
and
shared valuable ideas.
The Guidance Note on ILAS Illustration came into effect on 1 January 2014 while the Guidance Note on Minimum Death Benefit Requirements for Class C – Linked Long Term Business will become effective in the beginning of 2015. To facilitate Life Insurance Members' compliance with the new requirements, the LIC has prepared a set of FAQ for reference. Thanks to the excellent work of the LIC chairman Mr Stuart Fraser and his team, we have also agreed a streamline process with the Securities & Futures Commission for the approval of changes to offering documents and constitutive documents for ILAS products in respect of FATCA disclosures.
ARIAS - Reinsurance/Insurance-Alternative Disputes Resolution
In partnership with the Hong Kong Insurance Law Association and the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, we organised a forum with two interactive panel discussions on 11 June 2014. Chairman of the GIC Mr Ronnie Ng joined Professor Rob Merkin, representatives of the Department of Justice, Financial Dispute Resolution Centre, insurance companies and legal profession at the forum and brainstormed the need for a specialist insurance and reinsurance mediation and arbitration service in Hong Kong.
International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) Annual Conference 2014
As of today, the IUMI 2014 Hong Kong Conference has attracted a good mix of more than 300 delegates from 38 countries. If you have not yet signed up for the conference, please do so before the early bird registration deadline ends today (www.iumi2014hk.com/). Incidentally, the Marine Insurance Association received Mr Xu Feng, Secretary General of the newly established Shanghai Institute of Marine Insurance, earlier this week. We had a very constructive dialogue on how to strengthen the collaboration between Hong Kong and the Mainland in promoting marine insurance.
Jimmy Poon HKFI Chairman
MEMBERSHIP NEWS
Change of Authorized Representative
Bupa (Asia) Ltd (General Member) - Mr Christian Wards
HKFI Membership
As at 28 June 2014, the HKFI has 88 General Insurance Members and 43 Life Insurance Members.
