New Chief Executive
We are delighted to inform you that Ms Selina Lau has been appointed Chief Executive of the HKFI with effect from 1 February 2020. We look forward to your continued support to Ms Lau and the Federation.
New LIC Councilor
Chief Executive Ms Selina LauFacilitative measures amidst outbreak of COVID-19
In mid-January, the Life Insurance Council (LIC) ran a by-election to fill a casual vacancy and Mr Jacob Wong of China Taiping Life Insurance (Hong Kong) Company Limited was elected as Councilor for the remaining term (Circular Ref: Mv014/20).
Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) has brought unprecedented challenges to Hong Kong and the insurance industry is no exception. It is of paramount importance for us to continue serving our customers and ensure their retirement and medical insurance needs are met while reducing the risk of virus infection.
In this connection, we have solicited support from all Members providing Qualifying Deferred Annuity Policy (QDAP) and Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS) plans and worked out a range of flexible measures to enable nonface-to-face (non-F2F) distribution of such products. Working closely with the Insurance Authority (IA) within an extremely short period of time, the facilitative measures were launched on 21 February 2020.
Now policyholders are able to purchase QDAP and VHIS products sold by life insurers and intermediaries through non-F2F applications, such as digital, tele-marketing, postal, video-conference or any combination of these methods. This will enable policyholders to acquire the necessary insurance protection, enjoy the tax concession for the assessment year 2019-20 while enjoying strong levels of consumer protection.
Going forward, the Professional Standards Working Group under the Life Insurance Council (LIC) will work with the IA in exploring more innovative and nimble distribution methods to serve the insuring public.
One-off Extension of CPD Fulfilment
Many CPD activities have been cancelled or postponed in view of the virus outbreak. Noting that insurance intermediaries will have serious difficulties in earning the required CPD hours before the deadline of 31 July 2020, we have flagged our concerns to the IA and requested a 3-month extension for CPD fulfilment.
We are glad to note that the IA has accepted our request and allowed a one-off 3-month extension for CPD compliance. Intermediaries will be considered as CPD-compliant if they can earn the required CPD hours on or before 31 October 2020 and report their CPD compliance to the IA no later than 31 December 2020 (Circular Ref: Mv017/20).
Launch of the first e-CPD training for the Insurance Industry
HKFI is thrilled to announce that we are launching the first e-CPD curriculum on ethics management to meet the increasing demand for online learning after IA’s issuance of GL 24.
One of the modules is introduced by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) while the other one on VHIS is produced by the HKFI. These 30-minute modules have been robustly reviewed by the IA to ensure they are fit for purpose. Trainees will find them succinct and interactive. Insurance intermediaries can now take these e-modules and earn IA-CPD hours anytime and anywhere via our training website: https://event.hkfi.org.hk. If you wish to customize our e-CPD for your company, please contact our Training Unit via training@hkfi.org.hk.
A wide range of quality F2F training is also in the pipeline to support your training plans. They include “Code of Conduct & 6 Sales-related Guidelines for Insurance Agents in the Direct Licensing Regime”, “Fraud Detection in Insurance Claims”, “Maximising the Benefits of MPF”, “Roles and Responsibilities of Key Persons in Intermediary Management Function”, etc.
If you need our assistance in customizing new courses for your agents / staff, please contact us.
Covid-19 – Public Education on Insurance
The outbreak of the Covid-19 and its impact on insurance coverage has attracted a lot of public attention.
To ensure the insuring public is aware of the protection various lines of insurance business render in the context of Covid-19, we issued a media statement in early February with detailed and accurate information on travel, Employees’ Compensation and medical insurance. Seeing the need for more clarity on the coverage of travel /cruise insurance, we appeared in a range of news and infotainment programmes at various TV and radio stations and provided firsthand and correct information.
Our efforts in public education did not stop there. We have recently launched a thematic website “Insurance Dashboard on COVID-19” (https://www.hkfi.org.hk/covid19/). With its simple and reader-friendly layout, this website presents the latest, reliable and comprehensive information on the coverage of various insurance amidst COVID-19, alongside a FAQ section.
One noteworthy point is that many of our Member Companies have taken the initiative in providing alleviation measures for their clients. To make it transparent to the public, we have garnered such information from Members and displayed them at the one-stop dashboard, the contents of which will be constantly updated (Circular Ref: Mv011/20).
Please share this useful dashboard with your agents, staff and policyholders.
International Financial Reporting Standard 17 (IFRS17)
Further to our meeting with the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants, we wrote to Mr James Lau, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, to seek Government’s support for a mandatory adoption of IFRS 17 on 1 January 2023. To substantiate our case, we have also presented Mr Lau with an impact analysis. We will keep Member Companies abreast of the latest development.
Membership News
Change Company Name
● Swiss Reinsurance Company Limited (General & Life Member) change to Swiss Re Asia Pte. Limited
Change of Authorized Representative
● Principal Insurance Company (Hong Kong) Limited (Life Member) – Mr. Dave Ashton
● Swiss Re International SE, Hong Kong Branch (General Member) – Mr. Jingwei Jia
HKFI Memebership
As at 26 February 2020, the HKFI has 86 General Insurance Members and 51 Life Insurance Members.
