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The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance today (March 13) released provisional statistics of the Hong Kong insurance industry for 2014.
Total gross premiums of the Hong Kong insurance industry in 2014 amounted to $329.7 billion, representing an increase of 13.4% over 2013.
The total amount of revenue premiums of long term in-force business was $285.8 billion in 2014, increasing by 14.9% over 2013. Revenue premiums of Individual Life and Annuity (Non-Linked) business increased by 23.4% to $213.8 billion whereas Individual Life and Annuity (Linked) business decreased by 10.7% to $48.8 billion. Contributions of Retirement Scheme business grew by 11.7% to $19.1 billion.
New office premiums (excluding Retirement Scheme business) of long term business for 2014 increased by 23.2% to $114.0 billion compared with 2013. Individual Life and Annuity (Non-Linked) business increased by 33.3% to $97.4 billion. On the other hand, new office premiums of Individual Life and Annuity (Linked) business decreased by 16.1% to $16.1 billion.
In respect of policies issued to Mainland visitors, new office premiums amounted to $24.4 billion, representing 21.4% of the total new office premiums ($113.6 billion) for individual business in 2014.
In 2014, gross and net premiums of general insurance business recorded a growth of 4.2% to $43.9 billion and 3.8% to $30.3 billion respectively compared with 2013. Overall underwriting profit was maintained at $3 billion, which is on a par with that of 2013.
On direct business, gross and net premiums increased by 4.1% to $32.4 billion and 5.4% to $24.2 billion respectively, mainly driven by Accident & Health business (comprising Medical business) and Ships business. The former recorded gross and net premiums of $11 billion and $9 billion respectively, while the latter recorded $1.7 billion and $1.1 billion respectively.
The underwriting profit of direct business increased from $2.2 billion in 2013 to $2.3 billion in 2014. The underwriting profit of General Liability business increased from $125 million to $370 million. Such increase was partly offset by the underwriting performance of the Ships business and Property Damage business. The former showed a turnaround from a profit of $79 million to a loss of $8 million while the latter recorded a decrease in the underwriting profit from $562 million to $489 million.
On reinsurance inward business, gross premiums increased from $11 billion to $11.5 billion whilst net premiums dropped from $6.2 billion to $6.1 billion in 2014 as compared with 2013. The underwriting profit declined from $820 million in 2013 to $742 million in 2014.
A summary of provisional statistics of the Hong Kong insurance business for 2014 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 13, 2015
Issued at HKT 15:01
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