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Since the financial crisis in late 2008, the insurance industry had worked closely with the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) towards restoring consumer confidence and enhancing policyholder protection, the Commissioner of Insurance, Ms Annie Choi, said on the release of the OCI Annual Report 2009 today (September 27).
She noted that consumer confidence plummeted to an all-time low in the first quarter of 2009. Office premiums of new individual life business dropped tremendously, mostly due to the substantial decrease in investment-linked business. But the last quarter of 2009 did offer more causes for optimism as business rebounded, albeit incrementally.
Ms Choi said that the insurance industry and the OCI have made concerted efforts to roll out measures, including new suitability assessment requirements, post-sale control, a new examination syllabus and training requirements, and the extension of the cooling-off period, to enhance policyholder protection.
"I am glad that the industry has responded quickly and has introduced timely measures," she said.
Ms Choi added that the Government had moved ahead in proposing the establishment of an Independent Insurance Authority.
"With the financial crisis, we see the need for an overhaul of our regulatory framework. The diligent work in 2009 has led to a major consultation exercise this year. No doubt this will be a major task for the whole industry in the coming few years," she said.
Another endeavour in progress was the planning of the Policyholders' Protection Fund.
"The conceptual framework of the fund has been prepared, and the strong support from all quarters has stood us in good stead in working further on the detailed proposals," Ms Choi said.
She stressed that the above endeavours aimed to strengthen the regulatory framework, enhance policyholder protection and keep Hong Kong on a par with its counterparts in the international arena.
On the international front, Ms Choi said that global leaders had all committed to enhancing transparency, accountability and cross-border co-operation to consolidate the foundation for a sustained recovery. In this regard, the OCI would continue to work closely with overseas regulatory authorities, particularly in ensuring the corporate governance and capital adequacy of financial institutions and strengthening group supervision.
Looking ahead, Ms Choi said she believed that Hong Kong's physical proximity and economic links with Guangdong would bring huge opportunities to the local insurance industry.
"The 'Framework Agreement on Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation' also provides a good platform for further co-operation in the insurance sector between Hong Kong and Guangdong," she said.
As at December 31, 2009, there were 171 authorised insurers, 61,114 appointed insurance agents (including their responsible officers and technical representatives) and 7,932 authorised brokers (including their chief executives and technical representatives) operating in Hong Kong.
The OCI Annual Report 2009 provides summary analysis of insurance statistics and an overview of key activities undertaken by the Insurance Authority. Members of the public can download the annual report from the OCI website, www.oci.gov.hk.
Ends/Monday, September 27, 2010
Issued at HKT 15:00
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