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The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance today (March 15) released provisional statistics of the Hong Kong insurance industry for 2015.
Total gross premiums of the Hong Kong insurance industry in 2015 amounted to $365.8 billion, representing an increase of 10.9 per cent over 2014.
The total amount of revenue premiums of long-term in-force business was $319.8 billion in 2015, increasing by 11.9 per cent over 2014. Revenue premiums of Individual Life and Annuity (Non-Linked) business increased by 18.4 per cent to $253.3 billion whereas Individual Life and Annuity (Linked) business decreased by 17.6 per cent to $40.2 billion. Contributions of Retirement Scheme business grew by 15.2 per cent to $22.0 billion.
New office premiums (excluding Retirement Scheme business) of long-term business for 2015 increased by 15.1 per cent to $131.3 billion compared with 2014. Individual Life and Annuity (Non-Linked) business increased by 23.7 per cent to $120.4 billion. On the other hand, new office premiums of Individual Life and Annuity (Linked) business decreased by 36.2 per cent to $10.2 billion.
In respect of policies issued to Mainland visitors, new office premiums amounted to $31.6 billion, representing 24.2 per cent of the total new office premiums ($130.9 billion) for individual business in 2015.
In 2015, gross and net premiums of general insurance business recorded a growth of 4.7 per cent to $46 billion and 5.9 per cent to $32.1 billion respectively compared with 2014. Overall underwriting profit however declined from $3 billion to $1.7 billion.
On direct business, gross and net premiums increased by 7.4 per cent to $34.8 billion and 5.7 per cent to $25.6 billion respectively in 2015 compared with 2014, mainly driven by Accident & Health business (comprising Medical business) and General Liability business (comprising Employees' Compensation business). The former recorded gross and net premiums of $12.9 billion and $10.2 billion respectively, while the latter recorded $9.6 billion and $7.4 billion respectively.
The underwriting profit of direct business decreased to $1.3 billion in 2015 from $2.3 billion in 2014. The underwriting profit of Accident & Health business decreased from $660 million to $318 million. The underwriting performance of Motor business also turned from a profit of $67 million to a loss of $198 million. In addition, the underwriting loss of Ships business widened from $8 million to $198 million.
On reinsurance inward business, gross premiums decreased from $11.5 billion to $11.1 billion whilst net premiums increased from $6.1 billion to $6.5 billion in 2015 compared with 2014. The underwriting profit dropped from $742 million in 2014 to $444 million in 2015.
A summary of provisional statistics of the Hong Kong insurance business for 2015 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/Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Issued at HKT 15:00
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