Monthly Brief 2020/01 EN

Jan 2020

Issue No.274

New Member

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warm welcome to Avo Insurance Company Limited for joining HKFI as a General Insurance Member.

New LIC Councilor

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t the end of 2019, there were two vacancies on the LIC and a by-election was held. We are pleased to announce that Mr Ellick Tsui of BOC Group Life Assurance Company Limited was elected as Councilor of LIC for the remaining term of 2019/2020. Since the second seat resulted in a tie situation, the LIC is now running a by-election rerun to fill the remaining vacancy (Circular Ref: Mv002/20).

The New-look HKFI Conference Room

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he renovation has been completed! The newly refurbished conference room puts on a fresher look with expanded space and upgraded functionalities. The room can support the training needs and cope with the future development of HKFI.

Updates on Agents Registration by IA

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e met the Insurance Authority’s (IA) Market Conduct Division again on 20 January 2020 to follow up on the agent registration progress. We are glad to note that 92% of the applications received before the end of 2019 are now approved and they are making steady progress in processing the incoming applications.

On e-submission of applications, thus far 37 insurance companies have been granted supervisor accounts to apply for registration via the online portal, Insurance Intermediaries Connect (IIC). We encourage these insurers to start using the e-portal for future applications. For those insurers who have yet to apply for a supervisor account, we urge them to do so as soon as possible. We have reflected to the IA the comments we garnered from Members on the e-portal and we will continue to collect Members’ views when more are using the e-channel.

Meanwhile, the IA is producing a set of FAQ relating to licensing of individual insurance agents and technical representatives. We are now reviewing the contents to ensure they will help applicants and licensees understand how the new licensing regime works and get more clarity on the entry requirements.

On the other hand, we at the HKFI will continue to provide registered insurance agents with their registration / disciplinary records before 22 September 2019. Please send in your request on or before 30 April 2020 (Circular Ref: Mv122/19).

Insurance Fraud Prevention Claims Database (IFPCD)

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e c onduc te d t he br ief ings f or t r avel insurance via web-conferencing for the first time last November. In view that Members Insurers might have further questions on the suspicious case scenarios demonstrated by Shift Technology, an onboarding briefing on IFPCD travel business will be held on 6 February. We look forward to your participation (Circular Ref: Mv007/20). Please contact the Project Team at 2861 9392 or claimsDB@hkfi.org.hk for enquiries.

Members’ Sessions on Risk-Based Capital, Enterprise Risk Management and IFRS 17

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n 7 J anuar y 2 0 2 0, we organized two sessions to enable direct dialogue between our GIMs and LIMs and the Hon KP Chan and IA CEO Mr Clement Cheung. In addition to hearing our Members’ comments and concerns on the implementation of the new requirements, we have also tried to work out possible measures to facilitate compliance of Member Companies in a pragmatic and progressive manner. We are now liaising with the experts on the subjects and will continue providing timely updates and appropriate support to our Member companies.

International Financial Reporting Standard 17 (IFRS17)

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n its comment letter on the recent exposure draft, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group disagreed with the mandatory adoption date of 1 January 2022 and proposed a further deferral to 2023. In light of this, we conveyed our concerns over being a forerunner and requested the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA) to consider postponing the mandatory adoption of IFRS 17 for Hong Kong industry to 1 January 2023 to align with other international insurance centres.

On 23 January, we met with the HKICPA and the discussion was constructive. We will continue to proactively liaise with them on the proposed deferral in collaboration with key stakeholders including our Legislative Councillor, the regulator and the Government. At the same time, we will work jointly with HKICPA on a series of training on specific topics particularly for the General Insurance Members.

Standardizing Underwriting Questionnaire on Health-related Information

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e have conducted a consultation on the latest draft of underwriting questionnaire on health-related information in late December 2019. Numerous feedback were received from the Members. To better understand Members’ concerns on the implementation of the questionnaire and to explain the rationale behind its design, the Medical Insurance Association (MedIA) conducted an exchange session on 22 January 2020.

We are grateful for the active participation from medical insurers and their valuable input. The MedIA will take into account the comments garnered from Members when finalizing the questionnaire.

Meeting with Water Resources Department of Guangdong Province

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n 16 January, the Fire Insurance Association received a delegation from the Water Resources Department of Guangdong Province. It is the first time we had a visit from officials and professionals in the field in Guangdong. The meeting was constructive with updates from both markets and exchange of views flood management and insurance.

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he Consumer Council has published a report on Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS) in their latest issue of "CHOICE" magazine with comparison on the premiums between all Flexi Plans.

We welcomed the issuance of the report and issued a media statement on the same day to clarify some public misc onception about medic al insurance and elucidate several key messages including the reasons for differences in premiums, HKFI’s efforts in enhancing market transparency, etc. We will continue our public education on VHIS and other medical products to ensure consumers are aware of the importance of medical insurance protection.

Public Education

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e have recently launched a series of educational video covering travel insurance, home insurance, annuity and life insurance on social and digital media. By broadcasting these videos, we hope to remind the public the importance of identifying their own protection needs and understanding the coverage provided by different insurance products. Relevant videos will be released in stages on HKFI Smart Union’s Facebook fan page: https://www.facebook. com/HKFI.SmartUnion/

Recruitment Platform for Insurance Industry

Chinese New Year Greetings

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e wish you all a Healthy and Prosperous Year of the Rat!

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he industry recruitment information platform launched by the industry think-tank Club 2028 has attracted enormous interest from member insurers!

Send us more job advertisements now to catch up with this season for job-hunting! Visit the website at http://insurancejobs. hkfi.org.hk for more information. Job postings by Member Companies on this e-platform are free of charge for the first year after its launch. For enquiries, please contact Ms Maggie Leung at 2861 9332.

Membership News Change of Authorized Representative ● Tahoe Life Insurance Company Limited (Life Member) – Mr Yu Kin Nam HKFI Memebership As at 17 January 2020, the HKFI has 87 General Insurance Members and 51 Life Insurance Members.