November 2014 Issue No. 217
2014 Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) & Christmas Cocktail Party The EGM will be held at 5:30 pm on Monday, 15 December 2014 at HKFI's conference room (please refer to Circular Ref: Mv129/14 for details). This will be followed by our traditional Christmas Cocktail Party. We look forward to seeing you all there. Independent Insurance Authority (IIA) Thanks to the kind assistance of the Hon Bernard Chan and Hon K P Chan, we met Professor the Hon K C Chan, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, on 18 November 2014 to express our views and concerns on the major outstanding issues on IIA, i.e. the best interest issue and internal oversight of the disciplinary procedure. We appreciate the candid exchange of views and stance at the meeting. As a follow-up, we are in the process of commissioning a senior counsel with international standing to provide an independent legal advice on the issue of best interest as well as the internal oversight of the disciplinary procedure for the consideration of the Administration. Regarding the issue of salaried staff being regulated by the IIA, the Task Force on IIA has come up with a proposed alternative by referencing to international practices. Our suggested way forward will be further discussed with the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) and the Insurance Authority (IA) next month. Risk-based Capital (RBC) Framework for Hong Kong More than 300 representatives from 83 Member Companies attended the three briefings on RBC conducted in late October/early November. The overwhelming attendance reflected the level of importance insurers have attached to this topic. The Task Force under the Governing Committee has examined the points of concerns and will construct a comprehensive response to the Administration based on its own analysis and the input from Member Companies. A formal submission will be made. Member Companies are urged to pass on their views direct to the FSTB before the consultation deadline on 15 December 2014. 2015 Budget On behalf of the HKFI, General Insurance Council Chairman Mr Ronnie Ng met the Financial Secretary (FS) last week and relayed to the Administration the industry's concerns over the IIA, Policyholders Protection Fund, Health Care Reform and Risk-based Capital Framework. He also took the opportunity to seek the FS' support in strengthening co-operation between Hong Kong & Mainland on areas like fraud prevention, etc. Media Conference on Medical Insurance Data On 20 November 2014, we held a media conference to announce the medical insurance claims statistics for 2012. Special thanks to Mr Terry Tsang, Chairman of Medical Insurance Association, and Ms Elaine Chan, Deputy Chairman of Task Force on Health Care Reform, for their detailed presentation and elaboration on the medical insurance data, the trend of medical inflation and the effect it will have on insurance premium. At the request of the media, they also expressed the industry's concerns on certain practical aspects of the proposed Health Protection Scheme. The event attracted extensive coverage, highlighting the importance of medical insurance and the protection it offers to more than 3.6 million Hong Kong people.