Nov 2019
Issue No.272
2019 General Meeting (GM)
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he GM held on 25 November 2019 unanimously approved the new Articles of Association and maintaining the membership subscription fees for 2020 at the 2016 level.
LIC By-election
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h e L i f e In s ur a n c e C o un c i l ( LI C) i s n o w conducting a by-election to fill the two vacancies arising from the resignation of Ms Charity Au and Mr Godfrey Hui (Circular Ref: Mv125/19).
We would like to thank Ms Au and Mr Hui for their invaluable contribution to the LIC in the past years. We wish them a happy retirement!
IFRS 17
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Upgrading of HKFI premises
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o cope with the future development of HKFI and to support our training needs, we are now expanding the conference room and upgrading its facilities. The renovation is expected to complete in mid-January 2020. We will then host the postponed Celebratory Drinks Party at our newly refurbished conference room.
Registration process under the Direct Licensing Regime
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he industry expressed concerns over the registration process of insurance intermediaries under IA’s Direct Licensing Regime. In order to better understand the crux of the issue and find viable resolutions, we have set up a meeting with IA’s Market Conduct team in early December. At the same time, we help alleviate IA’s work burden by providing registered insurance agents with their registration / disciplinary records before 22 September 2019. Such service will be available until 30 April 2020 (Circular Ref: Mv122/19).
t has come to our attention that the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group has proposed to further defer the adoption date of IFRS 17 to 2023 while Hong Kong is planning to implement IFRS 17 on 1 January 2021.
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This will render Hong Kong operating to an implementation timetable not consistent with the other international insurance centres and faced with all the possible downsides. In the light of such an international development and the fact that our Member Companies found the current timeline exceedingly challenging, we have written to the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA) again urging them to consider postponing the effective date of IFRS 17 for Hong Kong insurers to 1 January 2023.
Moving forward, the SCs will continue to work with IA on the drafting of the Interpretation Notes. Meanwhile, please note that IA has released the Chinese version of the Important Facts Statement attached to GL26 (ILAS).
Guideline on Medical Insurance Business (GL31)
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L31 has been finalized and gazetted by IA in late November (Circular Ref: Mv121/19). We have received quite a number of questions from Members on its application to group medical insurance and how IA assesses the compliance standard of insurers. These questions will be addressed by the IA through a set of FAQ. To facilitate Members’ understanding on GL 31 and prep them for its implementation on 23 September 2020, we will invite the IA to conduct a townhall in due course.
Townhalls on Life Insurance Guidelines (GLs) n 19 and 20 November 2019, the LIC held three townhalls on the 6 life insurance GLs. Senior officials from IA were invited to present the principals and major changes of the GLs and addressed the discussion points raised by the Special Committees (SCs) set up under the LIC. A total of 220 Life Insurance Member's (LIM) representatives attended the sessions and raised valid concerns and questions.
Insurance Fraud Prevention Claims Database (IFPCD) – Cyber Security Audit and Assessment
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e attach great importance to the security of the IFPCD in line with the expectation of participating insurers, regulators and the public. In this light, the IFPCD Executive Committee has engaged Deloitte to conduct a comprehensive Cyber Security Audit and Assessment in Q1 & Q4 2020.
The onboarding of IFPCD travel line of business has started. Please contact the Project Team at claimsDB@hkfi.org.hk or 2861 9392 for details.