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Following is a question by the Hon Chan Kin-por and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, in the Legislative Council today (March 16):
Question:
An "Eligible Collective Investment Scheme" under the Permissible Investment Asset Classes of the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme must be a collective investment scheme authorised by the Securities and Futures Commission for sale in Hong Kong to the public. The Government announced in June last year that investment-linked assurance scheme (ILAS) products might be accepted as "Eligible Collective Investment Schemes". Insurance companies may apply to the Immigration Department for the inclusion of their ILAS products as permissible investment assets. Although a number of insurance companies have submitted applications, none of such applications have been approved so far. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the reasons why none of the ILAS products have so far been approved as permissible investment assets, and what solutions the authorities have for the problems concerned; and
(b) when the authorities anticipate the first batch of ILAS products approved as permissible investment assets will come out?
Reply:
President,
According to the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (CIES) rules, any investment-linked assurance scheme (ILAS) product authorised by the Securities and Futures Commission for sale to the public in Hong Kong may apply to the Immigration Department to be an Eligible Collective Investment Scheme if it is denominated in Hong Kong dollars and has at least 70% of its average net assets invested in the four specified financial assets (i.e. Hong Kong dollar-denominated equities, debt securities, certificates of deposits and subordinated debt).
Our reply to the two parts of the question is as follows:
(a) Some issuers of ILAS products have approached the Immigration Department, and the Department has just received one application for ILAS product to be an Eligible Collective Investment Scheme on March 15 and will process the application according to the CIES rules.
(b) Upon receipt of all necessary application documents, the Immigration Department will process and approve the applications according to the CIES rules and seek to complete the approval process within around one month.
Ends/Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Issued at HKT 17:50
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