Forming of IIA to strengthen insurance sector in Hong Kong

New Delhi,

The Hong Kong economy is considered to have the highest degree of economic freedom in the world and is one of the leading international financial markets. It has one of the most effective taxation systems, a low level of corruption, a very strong banking and legal system and is the third largest recipient of FDI in the world. The FDI limit for the insurance sector is 100% which greatly improves the sector’s performance and attracts many international insurance companies. Hong Kong is prone to natural disasters such as floods, storms, earthquakes and wildfires. This makes the insurance sector all the more important. Also, the country has high per capita insurance premium and is considered to be the most developed insurance market in the region.

In Hong Kong, the healthcare system is provided by both public and private companies as well as domestic and international companies, this makes the market highly competitive. This sector has been seeing some growth as there has been a growth in the consumer awareness regarding the incentives of insurance. There has been a rise in healthcare expenditures and a rise in the number of accidents which add to the growth of this sector. In addition to this increasing population and rising disposable income have contributed to this segment. Health insurance makes up more than 75% of the personal accident and healthcare insurance.

According to the research report “Personal Accident and Health Insurance in Hong Kong, Key Trends and Opportunities to 2020”, the main channel of distribution remains to be insurance agents but the multi-channel distribution has been growing rapidly with bancassurance penetration i.e. the distribution of insurance products by banks, gaining popularity. The insurance sector is regulated by the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) which will now be replaced by Independent Insurance Authority (IIA) by the Insurance Companies (Amendment) Ordinance 2015. It will establish a legal licensing system which will help to protect the policy holders and for growing the insurance industry. The CEPA agreement signed with China will further help in the development of the industry.

Recently, AIA International Company one of the biggest health insurance companies revised it’s health claim approval policy for reimbursement of “excessive health procedures” at private hospitals, making it more difficult to get approvals. This step has been taken due to medical claims abuse. According to the insurance company doctors unnecessarily hospitalise patients who have health insurance, this increases the premium amount to cover the increased costs and leads to medical inflation. To avoid this, the hospitalisation fees for “simple procedures” such as colonoscopy, gastroscopy and cataract surgery would no longer be covered by the health insurance as they can be easily be carried out at day care centres. This can result in loss to people who own health insurance, as other companies are considering implementing a similar policy.

Bupa (Asia) Ltd,Axa General Insurance Hong Kong Ltd,Axa China Region Insurance Company Ltd, Blue Cross (Asia-Pacific) Insurance Ltd, CTPI (Hong Kong) Ltd, AIA International Company, Prudential (Hong Kong) General Liberty International Insurance Ltd, Bank of China Group Insurance Ltd and Zurich Insurance (Hong Kong) Ltd are the major insurance companies that provide personal accident and health insurance.

Key Topics Covered in the Report:

Personal Accident and Health Insurance in Hong Kong,

Hong Kong Health Insurance Sector,

Health Insurance Industry Hong Kong,
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Hong Kong Health Insurance Research Report,

Hong Kong Health Insurance Regulations,

Hong Kong General Insurance Sector,

Personal Accident Insurance Gross Written Premium Hong Kong,

Hong Kong General Insurance Gross Written Premium,

Hong Kong Health Insurance Market Trends,

Hong Kong Health Insurance Sector Competition,