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The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance today (March 14) released provisional statistics of the Hong Kong insurance industry for 2013.
Total gross premiums of the Hong Kong insurance industry in 2013 amounted to $290.7 billion, representing an increase of 13.9 per cent over 2012.
The total amount of revenue premiums of long term in-force business was $248.6 billion in 2013, increasing by 15.2 per cent over 2012.
Revenue premiums of Individual Life and Annuity (Non-Linked) business and Individual Life and Annuity (Linked) business increased by 18.4 per cent to $173.3 billion and by 9.5 per cent to $54.7 billion respectively. Contributions of Retirement Scheme business grew by 2.3 per cent to $17.1 billion.
New office premiums (excluding Retirement Scheme business) of long term business for 2013 increased by 18.9 per cent to $92.6 billion compared with 2012. Both Individual Life and Annuity (Non-Linked) and Individual Life and Annuity (Linked) business recorded premium growth, with the former increased by 21.0 per cent to $73.0 billion and the latter increased by 11.7 per cent to $19.1 billion in terms of new office premiums.
In respect of policies issued to Mainland visitors, new office premiums amounted to $14.9 billion, representing 16.1 per cent of the total new office premiums ($92.3 billion) for individual business in 2013.
In 2013, gross and net premiums of general insurance business recorded a growth of 7.1 per cent to $42.1 billion and 8 per cent to $29.2 billion respectively compared with 2012. Overall underwriting profit also recorded an increase from $2.2 billion in 2012 to $3 billion in 2013.
On direct business, gross and net premiums increased by 7.4 per cent to $31.2 billion and 7.6 per cent to $23 billion respectively in 2013 compared with 2012, mainly driven by General Liability business (comprising Employees' Compensation business) and Accident & Health business (comprising Medical business). The former recorded gross and net premiums of $9.6 billion and $7.4 billion respectively, while the latter recorded $10.3 billion and $8.4 billion respectively.
The underwriting profit of direct business increased to $2.2 billion in 2013 from $1.6 billion in 2012. The underwriting performance of General Liability business showed a turnaround from a loss of $132 million to a profit of $125 million. The underwriting profit of Property Damage business and Accident & Health business also increased from $429 million to $562 million and from $675 million to $709 million respectively.
On reinsurance inward business, gross and net premiums increased from $10.3 billion to $11 billion and from $5.7 billion to $6.2 billion respectively in 2013 compared with 2012, primarily attributable to the premium growth for Property Damage, General Liability and Motor Vehicle businesses. Such premium growth also drove the underwriting profit up from $590 million to $820 million.
A summary of provisional statistics of the Hong Kong insurance business for 2013 is at annex. Further details can be downloaded from the website of the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance: www.oci.gov.hk.
Ends/Friday, March 14, 2014
Issued at HKT 15:00
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