16 December 2022
The Insurance Authority (IA) published its latest issue of Conduct In Focus today (16 December 2022) presenting statistics on complaints received in the first three quarters of 2022, giving guidance to insurance practitioners on regulatory matters and highlighting topical issues for policy holders.
In the Practice Section, we look at the importance of the regulatory requirements on Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in reinforcing a robust ethical and professional culture across the insurance industry. Individual licensees are now required to complete 15 CPD hours during each assessment year 1 . Principals 2 also have a responsibility for ensuring their appointed individual licensees complete their required CPD hours.
The “CPD Non-Compliance League Table” published in Conduct In Focus names the top 10 principals with the highest percentage of CPD non-compliances across their appointed individual licensees in the 2021/2022 CPD year. This list is published to facilitate, through disclosure and transparency, improved market discipline on CPD attainment across the insurance industry. In tandem with this, we set out best practices on CPD governance and controls for principals to adopt to ensure their appointed individual licensees complete their CPD hours.
In the Policyholder corner, we discuss the insurance literacy rate in Hong Kong and explain how the issue of insurance literacy relates to improving insurance inclusiveness across society. We also draw public attention to a particular spin on the use of insurance-related fraudulent websites we have come across in our supervision work and provide tips on how to identify these types of scams.
Ends
Notes:
1 Starting from the current assessment year (1 August 2022 to 31 July 2023), individual licensees (except travel agents) are required to complete a minimum of 15 CPD hours, including 3 compulsory hours on “Ethics or Regulations” courses.
2 Authorized insurers, licensed insurance broker companies or licensed insurance agencies.