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Hong Kong insurance business statistics 2012
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     The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) today (September 30) released the Hong Kong insurance business statistics for 2012 with reference to the audited returns and actuarial information submitted by insurers.

     In 2012, total gross premiums of the Hong Kong insurance industry increased by 12.7 per cent to $263.3 billion.

     For long-term insurance business, office premiums of new Individual Life business increased by 7.7 per cent to $75.3 billion in 2012 when compared with 2011. New office premiums for Individual Life (Non-Linked) business increased by 18.9 per cent to $58.2 billion. On the other hand, Individual Life (Linked) business dropped by 18.3 per cent to $17.1 billion in terms of new office premiums. The total number of new policies decreased slightly by 0.9 per cent to 1,069,548 in 2012.

     In respect of in-force long-term business, total office premiums increased by 12.7 per cent from $198.9 billion in 2011 to $224.1 billion in 2012. The Individual Life category remained the dominant line of business, making up $209 billion or 93.3 per cent of the total business. The number of policies in 2012 stood at 10 million, carrying net liabilities of $988 billion.

     Yearly contributions for Retirement Scheme contracts administered by insurers increased by 14.9 per cent to $9.3 billion. At the end of 2012, there were 54,795 Retirement Scheme contracts carrying net liabilities of $95.3 billion.

     In-force office premiums of Group Life business increased by 7.1 per cent to $2 billion, whereas the number of policies increased by 6.8 per cent to 18,255 and net liabilities increased by 8.7 per cent to $795.3 million.

     In-force office premiums of Annuity and other businesses (comprising mainly Permanent Health business) rose significantly by 67.6 per cent to $3.8 billion, accounting for 1.7 per cent of the total of long-term insurance business.

     General insurance business recorded an increase in the gross and net premiums by 12.5 per cent to $39.2 billion and 13.6 per cent to $27 billion respectively in 2012 when compared with 2011. The overall retention ratio increased slightly from 68.2 per cent to 68.9 per cent.

     The rise in gross premiums was mainly contributed by General Liability business (comprising Employees' Compensation business), which recorded a strong growth of 21.5 per cent from $7.8 billion in 2011 to $9.5 billion in 2012. Accident & Health business also posted an increase in gross premiums of 10.4 per cent from $9.4 billion in 2011 to $10.4 billion in 2012, whereas Motor Vehicle business recorded a significant growth of gross premiums of 18.9 per cent from $3.5 billion in 2011 to $4.2 billion in 2012.

     The overall underwriting profit of general insurance business decreased from $2.6 billion in 2011 to $2 billion in 2012, mainly due to adverse claims experience. The net claims incurred ratio was 58 per cent for 2012 compared with 55 per cent for 2011.

     Accident & Health business reported an underwriting profit of $696 million and became the largest contributor in 2012. This was followed by Property Damage business and Pecuniary Loss business with underwriting profit of $563 million and $490 million respectively. As for the two major classes of compulsory insurance business, the underwriting profit of direct Motor Vehicle business increased from $30 million to $104 million whilst the loss incurred by Employees' Compensation business deepened from $260 million to $649 million.

     Detailed statistics, including industry aggregates and those of individual insurers, are available from the website of the OCI at www.oci.gov.hk.

Ends/Monday, September 30, 2013
Issued at HKT 15:55

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