Feb 2022
Issue No.297
New Life Member
A
warm welcome to Partner Reinsurance Europe SE for joining HKFI as a Life Insurance Member (LIM).
Implementation of “Vaccine Pass” Arrangement
O
n 23 February, the Financial Secretary announced a raft of measures in his Budget 2022-2023. Albeit that the measures therein are not of direct relevance to our industry, we welcome the Government’s initiatives to issue bonds with longer tenor, facilitate training and groom talents in the space of InsurTech and ESG. These measures will help uplift the competitiveness of Hong Kong as the international financial hub. On the Greater Bay Area development, we have explicitly expressed our wish for the inclusion of suitable insurance products in the Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect Scheme during the budget consultation. We have repeatedly made such request before and will continue our lobbying drive when the Administration reviews and expands the scope of eligible investment products.
F
ollowing the circular issued by the Insurance Authority (IA) on implementing the above arrangement, the HKFI has issued a circular to strongly encourage the industry to adopt similar arrangement within their organizations.
Vaccination is by far the most effective measure to mitigate the risk posed by COVID-19 and its variants and to protect the community. Our General Insurance Council and Life Insurance Council are leading by example with an exceptionally high vaccination rate at 100%. While the work-from-home arrangement will remain the norm for most, if not all, insurers, we are pleased to see that Member Companies are taking action / actively considering to adopt the “Vaccine Pass” arrangement and motivate their staff / intermediaries who are medically fit to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
Taxi Insurance
H
KFI continues working closely with the IA and four taxi insurers to assist taxi owners replacing their policies through IA’s central distribution system. As of 23 February 2022, 80% of the taxi policies expiring in February have already found an alternative cover through the distribution system and the figure for March is 40%. For the remaining policies, the owners are probably obtaining quotes from different insurers, considering selling / scrapping their vehicles or arranging insurance cover through their own channels. Either way, we urged affected taxi owners to contact IA should they wish to make use of its central distribution system.
In parallel, we are following up on our proposal to leverage technological solutions to improve the safety of taxis. Two briefings will be conducted in March to explore the viable options available in the market and how they can help improve the ecosystem and achieve a win-win situation for stakeholders.
Enhance Usage of Virtual Onboarding Distribution Channel
T
he sales of long term insurance policies have been difficult throughout the pandemic. With the number of confirmed cases escalating exponentially, face-to-face engagement with customers has become exceedingly challenging, if not impossible.
To enable our intermediaries to continue serving the insuring public and ensuring their needs are met, we have spoken to various stakeholders including the Life Underwriters Association of Hong Kong (LUAHK) to hear their views on how to make wider use of the approved Virtual Onboarding (VO) Sandbox. After some in-depth discussion among the stakeholders, we have submitted our proposal to the IA for their consideration.