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The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) today (August 31) released provisional statistics of the Hong Kong insurance industry for the first half of 2012.
Total gross premiums of the Hong Kong insurance industry in the first half of 2012 amounted to $125.5 billion, representing an increase of 9.3 per cent over the corresponding period in 2011.
In the first half of 2012, gross and net premiums of general insurance business recorded a growth of 8.2 per cent to $20.3 billion and 9.9 per cent to $14.2 billion respectively compared with the corresponding period in 2011. Overall underwriting profit also recorded an increase from $1.5 billion to $1.6 billion.
On direct business, gross and net premiums gained 11.9 per cent to $15.6 billion and 11.8 per cent to $11.5 billion respectively in the first half of 2012 compared with the corresponding period in 2011, mainly driven by General Liability business (comprising Employees' Compensation business), the gross and net premiums of which were $4.1 billion and $3.1 billion respectively. Accident and Health business (comprising Medical business) and Property Damage business also contributed to the premium growth. The former recorded gross and net premiums of $5.5 billion and $4.6 billion respectively, while the latter recorded $2.1 billion and $1.0 billion respectively.
The underwriting profit of direct business increased to $1.0 billion in the first half of 2012 from $964 million in the corresponding period in 2011. Benefiting from a double-digit growth in business, the underwriting profit of Accident and Health business and General Liability business increased from $186 million to $303 million and from $89 million to $137 million respectively. However, due to the shrinkage in the underwriting profit of Mortgage Guarantee business, the underwriting profit of Pecuniary Loss business decreased from $350 million to $226 million.
On reinsurance inward business, gross premiums reduced from $4.8 billion to $4.7 billion whereas net premiums increased from $2.6 billion to $2.7 billion in the first half of 2012 compared with the corresponding period in 2011. During the same period, the underwriting profit increased from $488 million to $572 million, mainly due to better claims experience.
The total amount of revenue premiums of long term in-force business was $105.2 billion in the first half of 2012, increasing by 9.5 per cent over the same period of 2011.
Revenue premiums of Individual Life and Annuity (Non-Linked) business increased by 14.6 per cent to $72.3 billion whereas Individual Life and Annuity (Linked) business decreased by 7.2 per cent to $23.4 billion. Contributions of Retirement Scheme business grew by 25.7 per cent to $8.0 billion.
New office premiums (excluding Retirement Scheme business) of long-term business for the first half of 2012 decreased by 2.1 per cent to $37.8 billion compared with the same period of 2011. Individual Life and Annuity (Non-Linked) business increased by 12.1 per cent to $29.8 billion in terms of new office premiums. On the other hand, new office premiums of Individual Life and Annuity (Linked) business plunged by 33.7 per cent to $7.9 billion.
In respect of policies issued to Mainland visitors, new office premiums amounted to $4.3 billion, representing 11.4 per cent of the total new office premiums ($37.7 billion) for individual business in the first half of 2012.
A summary of provisional statistics of the Hong Kong insurance business for the first half of 2012 is in the Annex. Further details can be downloaded from the OCI's website: www.oci.gov.hk.
Ends/Friday, August 31, 2012
Issued at HKT 15:00
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