New Governing Committee
The Annual General Meeting held on 30 April 2019 approved the formation of the new Governing Committee of the Federation for 2019/2020 as follows:
Chairman Mr Praveen Daswani
New Member
Deputy Chairman Mr Eric Hui
Members Ms Charity Au
Mr P L Chan
Mr Mike Lee
Mr Guy Mills
Mr Edward Moncreiffe
Mr Jimmy Poon
Mr Ivan Tam
Ms Winnie Wong
A warm welcome to Well Link Life Insurance Company Ltd for joining HKFI as a Life Insurance Member.
Insurance (Maximum Number of Authorized Insurers) Rules
T he Insurance Authority (IA) has just released the consultation results and the final version of the above Rules. We are pleased to note that our regulator has taken into account our comments / suggestions of keeping the status quo, i.e. a licensed insurance agent would only be allowed to carry on regulated activities for a maximum of 4 authorized insurers, of which no more than 2 are long term insurers.
As regards the existing practice of requiring agents to seek prior consent from their appointing insurers, this will continue and we are now finalizing the relevant details with the IA (Circular Ref: Mv029/19)
Handing over SRO functions to IA
We have been working closely with the IA in the past months on the transitional arrangement. Things are progressing well and we have signed off on a couple of work items including the commencement of stock-taking by IA of agents’ records, etc.
In the meantime, the Insurance Agents Registration Board (IARB) continues with the licensing of agents and handling of complaint cases. To ensure a smooth transition to the Direct Licensing Regime (DLR), we are now trying to work out in collaboration with the IA a suitable, practical cutoff date for the processing of agents’ registration. On this we will provide you with more details soon after Government’s announcement of the official commencement date of the DLR.
Industry Development and Regulatory Training
W ith the envisaged advent of DLR, our Training Unit is moving full steam ahead to develop a set of training materials with special focus on the relevant new guidelines and codes on market conducts. With the professional support of our legal counsel, a series of face-to-face regulatory training will be launched to prepare agents and brokers for the new DLR. To know more about these new CPD courses and how they could help your intermediaries, please contact us at training@hkfi.org.hk / 2861 9337.
At the same time, we are also developing brand new e-CPD programmes under the DLR, which proposed to increase CPD hours from 10 to 15 while allowing 5 hours to be conducted via online platform. Thanks to the support of the IA and other stakeholders, we have made good progress in designing our e-CPD programme and it is set to be launched on a pilot basis by the end of the year.
Greater Bay Area
O n 23 April 2019, HKFI Chairman Mr P L Chan attended a meeting in Zhuhai convened by the Guangdong Municipal Finance Bureau and exchanged views with the Mainland authorities on setting up customer service centre in the special economic zones for Hong Kong insurers.
While we are awaiting more details from the relevant authorities, we would like to understand the needs and expectations of Member Companies. In this connection, we are conducting a member survey (circular Ref: Mv037/19) and would appreciate your feedback by 2 May 2019.
Annual Reception 2019
A t this annual event held on 16 April 2019, we had more than 180 friends of the industry and representatives of Member Companies joining us. We deeply appreciated the presence of our Guest-of-Honor Professor Sophia Chan, the Secretary for Food and Health, and her sharing on the implementation of Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme. Photos of the event are available at: https://www.hkfi.org.hk/#!/media-corner/album/399.
One of the highlights that evening was the presentation of HKFI Scholarship to 18 outstanding undergraduates majoring in insurance and related subjects. Since its inception in 1989, the HKFI Educational Trust has granted a total of 279 such scholarships. Upon graduation, some of the scholars have chosen insurance as their career. And we are pleased to see that they are doing well in various fields.
Insurance Book Series - All you need to know about insurance
T o provide the public with the correct concepts on insurance and help them understand how insurance operates, the industry think-tank Club 2028 spearheaded another major project – publishing an “All you need to know about insurance” series in conjunction with the Joint Publishing.
The first two books, namely, “Introduction to Insurance” and “Life Insurance” were released at the HKFI Annual Reception. They set out the basic principles of insurance, how insurance works behind the scenes, the important role it plays in our daily lives, various types of life insurance products and the kind of protections they provide.
In doing so, we hope to strengthen people’s correct understanding of insurance as an effective tool in addressing and dealing with different kinds of risks. The books will be available in the Joint Publishing bookstores soon!
International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) Asia Ambassador
M s Agnes Choi, former HKFI Chairman and Chairman of the 2014 IUMI HK Conference Organising Committee, has been appointed by the IUMI Executive Committee as their Asia Amabassador. This is due recognition of Ms Choi’s remarkable contributions to the IUMI in the past years. Going forward, HKFI will support her in promoting marine insurance in the region and HK as IUMI Asia Hub.
Incidentally, the next IUMI Asia Forum will be held in Shanghai between 22 and 23 May 2019. For details and registration, please visit the conference website at http:// iumiasiaforum2019.binguosoft.net.
Acknowledgement from HKFI Chairman
T oday is the last day I serve the HKFI as Chairman. For their great support over the past 12 months, I would like to thank my fellow colleagues on the Governing Committee, the General and Life Insurance Councils, Task Forces, Technical Associations, Working Groups, the secretariat staff and friends within and outside the Federation. You have been instrumental in helping the Federation to grow from strength to strength and your dedication and commitment will keep propelling the Federation continue to advance and excel in the runup to the commencement of the DLR and beyond. My heartfelt thanks to you all!
P L Chan HKFI Chairman
2019/2020 General Insurance Council
May we offer our best wishes to the newly-formed General Insurance Council:
Elected Councillors
Mr Eric Hui (Chairman)
Zurich Insurance Company Ltd
Ms Winnie Wong (Deputy Chairman) Asia Insurance Company Limited
Mr Pui-leung Chan
Mr Sheung-kin Li
Ms Huijun Liu
China Taiping Insurance (HK) Company Limited
Sompo Insurance (Hong Kong) Co Ltd
Bank of China Group Insurance Company Limited
Mr Andrew Merrilees Bupa (Asia) Limited
Ms Kelly Mok Prudential General Insurance Hong Kong Limited
Mr Ronnie Ng
China Overseas Insurance Limited
Mr Jimmy Poon Dah Sing Insurance Company (1976) Limited
Mr Martin Rueegg
AXA General Insurance Hong Kong Limited
Mr Ivan Tam Chevalier Insurance Company Limited
Ex-officio Councillors
Mr David Alexander Immediate Past Chairman
Mr Clement Hau
Fire Insurance Association Chairman
Ms Polly Ho Reinsurers’ Forum Convenor
Mr Man-kit Ip Medical Insurance Association Chairman
Mr Jimmy Poon Accident Insurance Association Chairman
Mr Patrick Wong
Technical Associations
Marine Insurance Association Chairman
T he various Technical Associations have also elected their respective Deputy Chairmen / Deputy Convenor as follows:
Accident Insurance Association
Fire Insurance Association
Marine Insurance Association
Medical Insurance Association
Reinsurers’ Forum
Mr Philip Kwan
Mr Jeffery Chan
Mr Timothy Lee
Ms Emily Li
Mr Andrew Mak
2019/2020 Life Insurance Council
A lso, we would like to extend our best wishes to the following members of the newly-formed Life Insurance Council:
Elected Councillors
Mr Guy Mills (Chairman)
Manulife (International) Limited
Mr Edward Moncreiffe (Deputy Chairman) HSBC Life (International) Limited
Mr Yu-man Chan CIGNA Worldwide Life Insurance Company Limited
Mr Peter Crewe
AIA International Limited
Mr Praveen Daswani Utmost Worldwide Limited
Mr Godfrey Hui
China Life Insurance (Overseas) Company Limited
Mr Simon Lam Munich Reinsurance Company Hong Kong Branch
Mr Etienne Bouas-Laurent
AXA China Region Insurance Company (Bermuda) Limited
Mr Mike Lee YF Life Insurance International Limited
Ms Orchis Li General Reinsurance AG
Mr Derek Yung
Ex-officio Councillor
Prudential Hong Kong Limited
Ms Charity Au Immediate Past Chairman
Membership News
New Membership
● Well Link Life Insurance Company Ltd (Life Member)
Change of Authorised Representative
● Zurich International Life Limited (Life Member) - Mr. Hui Kam Kwai Eric
HKFI Membership
As at 30 Apr 2019, the HKFI has 86 General Insurance Members and 51 Life Insurance Members.
Mr Guy Mills
Ms Winnie Wong Mr Eric Hui Mr Edward Moncreiffe