Monthly Brief 2016/01 EN

Jan 2016

Issue No.230

HKFI New Member

Our warmest welcome to China Taiping Life

Insurance (Hong Kong) Co Ltd for joining the HKFI as a Life Insurance Member!

Establishment of a Centralized Claims Database for the Prevention of Fraud

I am pleased to report that the above project is

Independent Insurance Authority (IIA)

O

n 28 December 2015, the HKSAR Chief E xecutive appointed Dr Moses Cheng as Chairman of the IIA Governing Board (GB) and Mr Samuel Chan, Professor Chan Wai Sum, Ms Chitty Cheung, Mr Kenneth Kwok, Mr Ma Ho Fai, Mr James Wong and Mr Stephen Yiu as Nonexecutive Directors.

progressing well. We have commissioned Deloitte and Baker & McKenzie to conduct a feasibility study.

In the next few weeks, the project consultants will start interviewing insurers and relevant stakeholders to ascertain their needs, expectations and visions.

The study is expected to be completed by Q3 2016.

Subject to the outcomes of the feasibility study, we will propose a commercially viable and legally sound operation model for members’ consideration.

We look forward to working closely with the newly established IIA and its GB to ensure a smooth transition to the new regulatory regime. On this we are requesting an informal meeting with Chairman Cheng and members of the IIA GB to discuss the related issues.

Financial Institutions (Resolution) Bill 2015

Guides for Insurers and Agents on Contracting Procedures

At the invitation of the Legislative Council's Bills

After an extensive consultation with all Member

Committee, Mr David Alexander represented the HKFI at the public hearing held on 19 January 2016 and presented the industry’s views on this Bill. In essence, we suppor t the proposed mechanism in principle but we have concerns over its scope, corporate governance, resolution power and funding mechanism.

Insurance sector is evidently different from banking and other financial institutions and needs to be treated differently. We will work with the Insurance Authority (IA) to ensure that this will be duly reflected in the relevant implementation rules and guidelines.

Companies, IA and intermediary bodies, and having sought legal advice in the context of the Competition Ordinance, the ‘Best Practice Guide for Insurance Companies on Contracting Procedures with Insurance Agents’ and ‘Guide to Agents on Contracting Procedure with an Insurance Company’ were issued on 20 January 2016. This Practice Guide will take effect on 1 June 2016.

The practices set out in the Guides will be useful reference for Member Companies. Also, they should help address some common concerns raised by insurance agents in the past, thus ensuring that they have a better understanding of their rights and obligations under agency agreements (Circular Ref: Mv002/16).

New LIC Councillor

A by-election was held to fill the casual vacancy arising from the resignation of Mr Andy Robinson. Mr Praveen Daswani from Generali Worldwide Insurance Company Limited was duly elected. Congratulations to Mr Daswani!

Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) Schemes (Amendment) Bill 2015

Th e c apt i o n e d B ill int r o duc e d t h e D ef ault As a better alternative, the Investment Strategy (DIS) which will transfer a scheme member’s accrued benefits into a DIS fund unless the relevant scheme members opt-out from the scheme within the specified period.

The Life Insurance Council (LIC) is supportive of DIS in principle but is concerned about the risks of the proposed opt-out approach, which will affect 554,200 default scheme members involving almost $60 billion of assets. The industry finds it unfair to scheme members if their money is to be taken out and transferred to a new fund account without their explicit consent. The transfer may lead to substantive losses for scheme members and this could result in massive complaints and undermine public confidence in MPF.

LIC is proposing an opt-in approach which gives scheme members the opportunity to make an informed decision after considering the pros and cons of DIS. Mr Wim Hekstra, Chairman of LIC’s Retirement Schemes Working Group, presented our views and proposal at the last Bills Committee meeting held on 11 January 2016. Furthermore, we are meeting individual Bills Committee members and other stakeholders like the Consumer Council to explain our serious concerns and how best they should be addressed. We are prepared to work with the Government to remove the risks we have identified and to ensure the ultimate success of DIS.

Career in Insurance

In its December 2015 issue, IA’s ILens Newsletter Another programme newly introduced was an activitypublished a feature article on Young Insurance Executive Development (YIE) programme contributed

by Mr P L Chan, Chairman of the YIE Task Force. It is one of the many initiatives we are pursuing to promote insurance as a preferred choice of career, particularly for young people.

In addition to conducting career talks at tertiary institutes, we also reach out to secondary students in partnership with the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups. On 6 January 2016, a Career Planning Board Game was launched as part of our career navigation programme for students. More than 100 teachers from 90 secondary schools joined the trainthe-trainer workshop. The game was developed on a self-directed search theory which helps students to choose a career path which matches their aspirations and personalities.

based career seminar on underwriting and claims. At the invitation of the Federation for Self-financing Tertiary Education (FSTE), we conducted the first session for senior secondary students on 29 January 2016. The participating students found this interactive seminar interesting and rewarding.

Green Power Hike HKFI Cup 2016

The annual fund-raising walkathon – Green Power Hike – was successfully held on 30 January 2016. The HKFI Cup has been held for 12 consecutive years and we have broken a record this year with 55 teams from the insurance industry joining the race.

Congratulations to Convoy Financial Group on winning both the 50 km race and the 25 km races and Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE the 10 km race. With the generous support from participating companies, the industry raised a total of HKD650,000 this year to help funding projects on environmental education.

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

W

e wish you a Healthy, Prosperous and Joyous Year of the Monkey!

Mike Lee HKFI Chairman

Membership News New Membership China Taiping Life Insurance (Hong Kong) Company Limited (Life Member) Change of Company Name Generali International Limited (Life Member) to Generali Worldwide Insurance Company Limited Change of Authorised Representative ● Asia Capital Reinsurance Group Pte Ltd (General Member) - Ms Emily Lin ● Aviva Life Insurance Company Limited (Life Member) - Ms Margaret Chiu ● Federal Insurance Company (General Member) - Mr William Chan ● Liberty International Insurance Limited (General Member & Life Member) - Ms Stella Fok ● Lloyd's (General Member) - Mr Thomas Haddrill HKFI Membership As at 1 Feb 2016, the HKFI has 88 General Insurance Members and 46 Life Insurance Members.