June 2014 Issue No. 212 New Member
On behalf of the Governing Committee, I would like to extend a warm welcome to Peak Reinsurance Company Limited joining the HKFI our Life Insurance Member as well. Establishment of the Independent Insurance Authority (IIA)
The Legislative Council's Bills Committee held a public hearing on 24 June 2014. In addition to making a written submission detailing our concerns and suggested solutions (www.hkfi.org.hk/ pdf/20140624_HKFI%20submission_Eng.pdf), we had six representatives speaking at the hearing. They included Mr Allan Yu, Mr Ambrose Cheung, Mr Mike Lee, Mr Ronnie Ng, Mr Ben Chung and Mr Steven Kwok representing the HKFI, Insurance Agents Registration Board, Life Insurance Council, General Insurance Council, Employees' Compensation Insurance Residual Scheme Bureau and Insurance Claims Complaints Bureau respectively. Thanks to their excellent presentations, we were able to articulate the following key areas of concern directly to the lawmakers: ˙ Industry knowledge on the Board and Industry Advisory Committees; ˙ Internal oversight of disciplinary functions; ˙ Inappropriate new civil claims; ˙ Preventing excessive financial penalties; ˙ Publication of disciplinary decisions under appeal; ˙ Accessibility of the appeals mechanism; and ˙ Undue restrictions on insurance agent. Our views were echoed by the presentations made by the various stakeholders at the hearing. It demonstrated the fact that these are fundamental issues affecting the entire industry and it would render the future regulatory framework unfit for purpose if they are not properly addressed. That said, we wish to reiterate that we are supportive of the establishment of the IIA. Given its importance and far-reaching impact on our industry and the insuring public, however, we will continue to step up our efforts to work with all stakeholders to get the Bill right. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Chairman of the Task Force, Mr Allan Yu, for his great efforts in steering this project. Going forward, our legal consultant will help us to conduct a thorough review of the Bill clause by clause and with the help of the Honourable K P Chan, we are lining up a series of meetings with members of the Bills Committee to put across our concerns and suggested solutions.