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The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) has today (May 29) released the provisional statistics of the Hong Kong insurance industry for the first quarter of 2003.

In the first quarter of 2003, the gross and net premiums of general insurance business recorded a growth of 7.9% to HK$6,870 million and 13.3% to HK$4,760 million respectively as compared with the corresponding period of 2002.

The overall underwriting profit of general insurance business sharply improved from HK$77.5 million to HK$480 million as compared with the corresponding quarter of 2002. Property Damage business alone accounted for an underwriting profit of HK$266 million, which was attributable to a lowering in the net claims incurred ratio.

The underwriting performance of Motor Vehicle business and General Liability business (mainly Employees' Compensation business) also showed significant improvement. Motor Vehicle business improved from a loss of HK$5.5 million to a profit of HK$6.0 million, while General Liability business improved from a loss of HK$26.4 million to a profit of HK$54.6 million. The improvement in Motor Vehicle business was attributable to a better control of the commissions ratio, whilst improvement in General Liability business was mainly due to the effect of the general increase in premium rates during the year 2002.

In respect of long term business, the total revenue premiums of long term in-force business collected by the insurance industry amounted to HK$17,335 million in the first quarter of 2003, an increase of 15.9% over the same period of 2002.

For revenue premiums of each major classes, Individual Life and Annuity (Non-Linked) business grew by 25.4% to HK$9,745 million, Individual Life and Annuity (Linked) business grew by 12.4% to HK$3,261 million, while Retirement Scheme business decreased slightly by 1.0% to HK$3,657 million. On the benefit side, the total insurance benefits paid to individuals during the said period increased by 6.5% to HK$5,424 million.

On the other hand, the new business statistics showed that the long term insurance industry strongly grew in the first quarter of 2003. The new office premiums (excluding Retirement Scheme business) amounted to HK$4,817 million, a remarkable increase of 44.1% over the same period of 2002. Owing to the considerable growth in single premium business, the major component of the long term business, Individual Life and Annuity (Non-Linked) business, recorded an increase of 69.7% in new office premiums to HK$2,979 million. Another major component of the long term business, Individual Life and Annuity (Linked) business, increased by 19.6% in new office premiums to HK$1,733 million in the first quarter of 2003.

The provisional statistics in detail can be downloaded from the OCI's website: http://www.info.gov.hk/oci.

End/Thursday, May 29, 2003

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Summary on January - March 2003 Provisional Statistics

Annex 1 (PDF format)

Annex 2 (PDF format)