Jul/Aug 2015
Issue No.225
Establishment
of the Independent Insurance Authority (IIA)
T
he Insurance Companies (Amendment) Ordinance 2015 was passed by the Legislative Council on 10 July 2015. This opened a new and important chapter of the Hong Kong insurance industry. As the representative body of the insurance industry, the HKFI is glad to have played an instrumental role in this important project over the past five years and helped achieve a satisfactory outcome for the good of the industry and consumers. What’s next? From the Government we understand that the Provisional Insurance Authority will be set up by the end of 2015. It will first start taking over the prudential regulation work in 2016 before moving into the regulation of insurance intermediaries by 2017 or early 2018.
Commissioner of Insurance
As you are probably aware, Mr
John Leung will take over from Ms Annie Choi as Commissioner of Insurance on 19 August 2015. On behalf of the HKFI, I would like to extend a warm welcome to Mr Leung and we look forward to maintaining our close working relationship with the IA under his leadership. I want to take this opportunity to thank Ms Choi for her remarkable contribution to the insurance industry during the past six years and wish her all the best in her new position as Commissioner of Innovation and Technology.
On 3 August 2015, we conducted a briefing for Members entitled “From Bill to Law – what you should know about the Insurance Companies (A m e n dm e nt) O r dinanc e? ”. M o r e t han 2 2 0 representatives from 81 Member Companies attended the event and the overall feedback was good (Circular Ref: SL/ec/15-026). Going forward, we will work with the Insurance Authority (IA) on the transitional arrangements on issues like the proper migration of Insurance Agents Registration Board to the new IIA and the drafting of the relevant market conduct rules and guidelines under the new legislative framework.
Insurance Fraud
Insurance fraud has been an issue of concern to the
industry. We need to step up our industry’s fraud detection and prevention capacity to protect honest consumers. Thanks to the support of Member Companies, the Governing Committee has decided to proceed with the setting up of a claims data base and commission a consultant to provide the necessary legal and related support for this project.
Coincidentally, the HK Police Force will broadcast an episode in its TV programme the Police Magazine on bogus motor insurance cover note. Chairman of Task Force on Prevention of Insurance Fraud & Claims Database Mr Allan Yu will appear in the programme and remind people not to buy insurance from anyone except properly registered intermediaries.