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The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance today (August 29) released provisional statistics of the Hong Kong insurance industry for the first half of 2014.
Total gross premiums of the Hong Kong insurance industry in the first half of 2014 amounted to $162.7 billion, representing an increase of 13.3 per cent over the corresponding period in 2013.
The total amount of revenue premiums of long-term in-force business was $139.6 billion in the first half of 2014, increasing by 15.5 per cent over the same period of 2013.
Revenue premiums of Individual Life and Annuity (Non-Linked) business increased by 25.7 per cent to $104.1 billion whereas Individual Life and Annuity (Linked) business decreased by 12.3 per cent to $24.7 billion. Contributions of Retirement Scheme business grew slightly by 2.2 per cent to $8.4 billion.
New office premiums (excluding Retirement Scheme business) of long-term business for the first half of 2014 increased by 19.8 per cent to $54.9 billion compared with the same period of 2013. In terms of new business premiums, Individual Life and Annuity (Non-Linked) business increased by 33.8 per cent to $47.0 billion. On the other hand, new office premiums of Individual Life and Annuity (Linked) business decreased by 27.8 per cent to $7.6 billion.
In respect of policies issued to Mainland visitors, new office premiums amounted to $10.1 billion, representing 18.4 per cent of the total new office premiums ($54.6 billion) for individual business in the first half of 2014.
In the first half of 2014, gross and net premiums of general insurance business recorded growth of 1.8 per cent to $23.2 billion and 1 per cent to $16.4 billion respectively compared with the corresponding period in 2013. Overall underwriting profit was maintained at $1.5 billion, which is on a par with that in 2013.
On direct business, gross and net premiums gained 2.1 per cent to $17.6 billion and 2.7 per cent to $13.4 billion respectively in the first half of 2014 compared with the corresponding period in 2013, mainly driven by Ships business and Motor Vehicle business. The former recorded growth in gross premiums from $1 billion to $1.4 billion while the latter recorded growth in gross premiums from $1.8 billion to $2 billion.
The underwriting profit of direct business decreased to $1.1 billion in the first half of 2014 from $1.2 billion in the corresponding period in 2013. The underwriting performance of Ships business showed a turnaround from a profit of $50 million to a loss of $36 million. The underwriting profits of Motor Vehicle and Accident & Health businesses also shrank from $109 million to $49 million and from $317 million to $260 million respectively. They offset the increase in the underwriting profit of General Liability business from $111 million to $292 million.
On reinsurance inward business, gross premiums remained at a level of $5.5 billion while net premiums dropped from $3.2 billion to $3 billion in the first half of 2014 compared with the corresponding period in 2013. Nevertheless, the underwriting profit grew from $367 million to $435 million due to improvement in claims experience.
A summary of provisional statistics of the Hong Kong insurance business for the first half of 2014 is in the annex. Further details can be downloaded from the website of the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance: www.oci.gov.hk.
Ends/Friday, August 29, 2014
Issued at HKT 15:00
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