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The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) has today (August 25) released the provisional statistics of the Hong Kong insurance industry for the first half of 2003.

In the first half of 2003, the gross and net premiums of general insurance business recorded a growth of 3.1% to HK$12,682 million and 3.6% to HK$8,610 million respectively as compared with the corresponding period of 2002.

As compared with the corresponding period of 2002, the overall underwriting profit of general insurance business improved from HK$332 million to HK$810 million. Property Damage business alone accounted for an underwriting profit of HK$453 million, which was attributable to a lowering in both the commissions and claims ratios. As for Pecuniary Loss business, significant improvement was also made in its underwriting performance, bringing its underwriting result from a loss of HK$112 million to a profit of HK$63.5 million.

The underwriting performance of Motor Vehicle business and General Liability business (mainly Employees' Compensation business) also improved. Motor Vehicle business reduced its loss from HK$87.9 million to HK$16.5 million, while General Liability business improved from a loss of HK$103 million to a profit of HK$43.2 million. These improvements were attributable to the effect of the continued reduction in commissions ratio in the case of Motor Vehicle business, and the increase in premium rates in the case of General Liability business during the period.

In respect of long term business, the total revenue premiums of long term in-force business collected by the insurance industry amounted to HK$35,148 million in the first half of 2003, an increase of 11.6% over the same period of 2002.

For revenue premiums of each major class, Individual Life and Annuity (Non-Linked) business grew by 22.4% to HK$20,846 million; Individual Life and Annuity (Linked) business and Retirement Scheme business decreased slightly by 2.0% to HK$5,834 million and 1.8% to HK$7,277 million respectively. On the benefit side, the total insurance benefits paid to individuals during the said period decreased by 4.0% to HK$11,525 million.

For new business, the statistics showed that the long term insurance industry still maintained a steady growth in the first half of 2003. The new office premiums (excluding Retirement Scheme business) amounted to HK$10,028 million, representing an increase of 16.1% 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, continued to record a significant increase of 51.5% in new office premiums to HK$6,922 million. On the other hand, Individual Life and Annuity (Linked) business, decreased by 22.5% in new office premiums to HK$2,888 million in the first half of 2003.

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

End/Monday, August 25, 2003

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Summary on January - June 2003 Provisional Statistics

Annex 1 (PDF format)

Annex 2 (PDF format)