September 2011 Issue No. 182
New Member
On behalf of the HKFI, I extend our warmest welcome to Partner Reinsurance Europe Limited for joining us as a General Insurance Member.
Health Care Reform Mr David Alexander, Chairman of the HKFI’s Task Force on Health Care Reform, attended a special meeting of the Legislative Council’s Panel on Health Services on 8 August 2011 to reaffirm our support in principle for the proposed scheme. Going forward, we will step up our work on standardizing policy terms/wordings and promoting public education on medical insurance. On consumer education, our latest initiative is to publish a weekly column on medical insurance in the Economic Digest（《經濟一 週》）, one of the most reputable financial magazines in Hong Kong. Each week, we focus on one aspect of medical insurance and provide readers with in-depth information by way of real case studies, Q&A, etc.
Proposed Independence of the Insurance Authority (IIA) The Government has yet to announce details of the implementation of the above proposal. On receipt of the details, we will consult Member Companies on the way forward.
Personal Data Privacy The Task Force on Review of Personal Data Privacy Ordinance has been in close liaison with the Office of Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) on two important issues. The first involves the draft Guidance Note on the Proper Handling of Customers’ Personal Data for the Insurance Industry (GN). While we fully support the exercise, we expressed concern to the PCPD Office that the GN seemed to add more restrictions over and above what is set out in the Six Data Protection Principles. We submitted our consolidated comments and requested clarification/guidelines for compliance purposes. Another subject of grave concern is the introduction of Data User Return Scheme (DURS). Two briefings were conducted for the Task Force and Member Companies. In principle, we support DURS if it is reasonably implemented with no adverse impact on normal commercial activities. However, we have reservations about its effectiveness in strengthening personal data protection. We also foresee technical difficulties in complying with the requirements such as the onerous administrative workload involved in regularly updating the database. The Task Force is more than ready to discuss with the PCPD Office on our views.