Greetings from HKFI Chairman
It is my great honour to represent the Hong Kong insurance industry as HKFI Chairman in this new term. The past 18 months have brought unprecedented and unparalleled challenges to our industry and to the communities in which we serve. I look forward to working with you all over the next 12 months, and the HKFI will endeavour to support our members to the best of its ability, to ensure that the industry can continue on its path to sustainable growth.
Pilot Insurance-linked Securities (ILS) Grant Scheme
The Pilot ILS Grant Scheme (Pilot Scheme) was first introduced by the HKSAR Financial Secretary in his 2021-22 Budget. On 3 May, the Insurance Authority (IA) announced the details of the two-year Pilot Scheme which aims to attract and incentivize insurers and sponsors to issue ILS in Hong Kong. We welcome the financial support covering the upfront costs of an eligible ILS issuance. We will continue to work with the IA to facilitate the market development and help attract onshore and offshore issuers and sponsors to issue ILS in Hong Kong.
Nominations for TF/WG/SC
The majority of our technical work is supported by various Task Forces (TF), Working Groups (WG) and Steering Committees (SC) formed under the Governing Committee, General Insurance Council and Life Insurance Council (LIC). To maintain the transparency of our work and encourage more volunteers from the industry in support of the various ongoing and new initiatives of the HKFI, we are inviting nominations from all Members (Circular Ref: Mv043/21). We hope to have your continued support to our work!
Joint Subcommittee on Issues Relating to Insurance Coverage for Transport Sector
We joined the meeting on 4 May and had another round of productive discussion with the various Government bureaus and departments on measures to eradicate insurance frauds and champerty relating to the transport sector.
In line with the previous meeting, we took stock of the current situation and suggested a raft of practical measures to address the pain points. Thanks to the support from the Subcommittee Chairman the Hon Frankie Yick and our Legco member the Hon K P Chan, our proposals were taken positively. Actions are being taken to work even more closely with the Hong Kong Police Force and other Government agencies.
The next meeting will be held on 4 June to discuss the possible measures to reduce traffic accidents involving taxis and public light buses. We will continue advocating for more constructive changes that will create a better ecosystem.
Collaboration with ICAC
HKFI and ICAC have shared a cordial working relationship and collaborated in several fronts, such as jointly launched the first e-CPD course for insurance industry on ethics management last year (https://bit.ly/3oIjhHd).
The Corruption Prevention Guide for Insurance Companies (CP Guide) is the latest initiative, which we helped ICAC collecting views from our member companies on the contents of the Guide and promoting it after its release as part of the ICAC's ethics promotion campaign for the insurance industry. To help insurance companies better understand the CP Guide, a webinar has been scheduled for 9 June. Compliance officers are welcome to sign up online (Circular Ref: Mv040/21).
HKFI Training Course on Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA) Report
The above training course was held on 10 May to provide Board Members, CEOs and Senior Executives with tips on how to improve the quality of ORSA report and let them understand the value of ORSA.
The two sessions were well-attended by over 300 attendants from more than 70 Member Companies. Our special thanks go to Chief Executive Officer of the IA Mr Clement Cheung who made the opening remarks and shared his thought-provoking insights. We also thank the KPMG Hong Kong and PwC Hong Kong for their detailed presentations at the webinars. More quality training on risk-based capital and ORSA will be available. Stay tuned!
Webinar Series on Tax
To better understand the new Hong Kong profits tax concessions and what insurers could do to better position themselves, we are organizing the first two sessions of the webinar series on tax in June (one in English and one in Cantonese). HKFI Deputy Chairman Ms Winnie Wong and speakers from EY will share the background of the new profits tax concessions, qualifying insurance businesses, threshold requirements and practical considerations with illustrative examples.
The next webinar will be an educational session conducted by PwC for Member Companies to understand the tax issues in the Greater Bay Area. Details will be available in due course.
Hong Kong Insurance Market Research 2020
To help our Members map out their future business development strategies, we arranged a briefing on 5 May for the consultant NielsenIQ to share the noteworthy findings of our market research. The session was well attended by 274 representatives from 71 Member Companies and the research report was subsequently shared to all Members.
New Look of HKFI Facebook Fan Page and Consumer Education
Since its first launch in July 2015, the engagement with fans and users of our Facebook fan page HKFI Smart Union has exceeded 3.19 million! To bring it to the next level, we have revamped the fan page earlier this month with enriched contents and a new mascot. To help build a positive industry image, a new pillar has been added for our industry practitioners to share their industry memes. Follow us now at https://www.facebook.com/HKFI.SmartUnion.
In addition to social media, we have also launched a series of educational video covering the principles of insurance, such as cooling-off period, utmost good faith and purpose of wellness programmes, etc., on social and digital media. By broadcasting these videos, we hope to remind the public of their rights and duties on purchasing insurance products. Watch the videos now by clicking here!
The Hong Kong Insurance Awards 2021
We are delighted to launch the much awaited Hong Kong Insurance Awards 2021 with our partner South China Morning Post. The application will open on 1 June 2021. Submit your entries on or before 30 July 2021!
More new and exciting categories have been introduced this year. For details, please visit our official website at www.hkfi.org.hk/hkia. Apply now to showcase your excellent accomplishments in the past year!