March 2011 Issue No. 177 Annual General Meeting (AGM) The 2010/2011 AGM will be held on Friday, 29 April 2011 at 12:00 noon. Authorized Representatives of Member Companies are invited to attend (Circular Ref: Mv040/11).
HKFI Annual Cocktail Reception 2011
The HKFI Annual Cocktail Reception will be held on Thursday, 14 April 2011 at 6:00 pm at the Garden Lounge of the Hong Kong Club. The Honourable Anna Wu, SBS, JP, Chairman of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority, will be our principal Guest-of-Honour. We look forward to seeing you that evening.
Proposed Establishment of a Policyholders’ Protection Fund (PPF)
The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau released a public consultation paper on the setting up of a PPF. We welcome the detailed and comprehensive proposal and are pleased to see that the exercise is conducted in full transparency with input from the community. The Task Force on PPF will study the paper in-depth and consult Member Companies before we submit a consolidated industry response by the deadline on 24 June 2011.
Guidance Note on Gifts
The HKFI is about to issue a guidance note prohibiting the offering of financial or other incentives to clients when promoting investment-linked assurance schemes (ILAS) products. This is in line with similar guidance note issued by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). The note will be issued once it is cleared by the Insurance Authority (IA). This is part of our continued efforts to strengthen customer protection.
New Registration Portal for Insurance Agents
A briefing was held on 18 March 2011 to introduce and explain the operation of the above e-platform for registration renewal. More than 70 representatives from 30 Member Companies attended the briefing. The response from the floor was very positive. We are thankful for the constructive suggestions to improve the flow and operation of the new portal. We are now fine-tuning the new registration portal, which is expected to be launched in the next month or two. An online demonstration will be available to help users to gain smooth access to this new registration channel.
New Appeals Tribunal Member On behalf of the HKFI, I would like to welcome Mr Huen Wong, JP, President of the Law Society of Hong Kong, to join the Appeals Tribunal for a term of two years starting from 1 April 2011.
Educational and Publicity Programmes The monthly mobile data usage in Hong Kong has surged to over 1,400 Terabytes in 2010, more than doubled the figure in 2009. In view of the popularity of the smart phones and tablet PCs and to increase their accessibility to our website, we will launch a HKFI mobile app this year. The app will facilitate direct and convenient access to HKFI’s consumer education information and checking on the insurance agents’ register. In the coming months, we will also roll out in partnership with Commercial Radio 2 (FM903) and Metro Finance (FM104) series of infomercials carrying useful messages on consumer education and protection. Our planned programmes will also include publication of a booklet on travel insurance and launching of the related website. We will also continue our biweekly column in the Apple Daily News to educate the public on the role and importance of insurance and provide more in-depth information on topical issues relating to insurance.