24 July 2026
The Insurance Authority (IA) today (24 July 2026) released provisional statistics for the first quarter of 2026, with total gross premiums reaching $291.6 billion (increased by 32.3%).
Long term business
New office premiums (excluding Retirement Scheme business) of long term business were $141.1 billion (increased by 51.1%), mainly composed of $135.3 billion derived from Non-Linked individual business (increased by 50.2%) which can be further broken down into participating business of $125.7 billion (increased by 53.7%) and other businesses of $9.7 billion (increased by 16%), as well as $5.7 billion from Linked individual business (increased by 77.2%). Some 28,000 Qualifying Deferred Annuity Policies were issued, which contributed $1.8 billion or 1.3% of the total premiums for individual business.
Total revenue premiums of in-force business were $256.4 billion in the first quarter of 2026 (increased by 35.6%), mainly composed of $233.5 billion derived from Non-Linked individual business (increased by 38.1%), $8.6 billion from Linked individual business (increased by 39%) and $12.1 billion from Retirement Scheme business (increased by 3.2%). Moreover, the total claims and benefits paid were $92.3 billion (decreased by 2.1%)1.
As of 31 March 2026, the total and net assets under long term business were $5,504 billion and $733.3 billion respectively.
General business
The total gross premiums of general business in the first quarter of 2026 were $35.2 billion (increased by 12.5%) which can be further broken down into direct onshore business of $15.8 billion (increased by 3.4%), direct offshore business of $2.1 billion (increased by 10.6%), reinsurance inward onshore business of $2.9 billion (increased by 28%) and reinsurance inward offshore business of $14.4 billion (increased by 21.6%). The net premiums were $23.1 billion (increased by 12%), while total gross claims of $14.1 billion were paid (increased by 15%). The overall operating profit was $4.1 billion (increased by 56.1%), of which $2.6 billion was attributable to underwriting profit (increased by 193.7%).
Direct business recorded gross and net premiums of $17.8 billion (increased by 4.2%) and $11.8 billion (increased by 4%) respectively, against which $7.1 billion of gross claims were paid (increased by 5.4%). The gross premiums were mainly derived from onshore Accident & Health business which contributed $8.4 billion (increased by 9.9%). The underwriting profit of $2.3 billion (increased by 118.2%) was bolstered by onshore Pecuniary Loss (including mortgage guarantee) business and onshore Accident & Health business, registering $1.4 billion (increased by 451.6%) and $0.3 billion (increased by 178%) of profit respectively.
On reinsurance inward business, gross and net premiums were $17.3 billion (increased by 22.7%) and $11.3 billion (increased by 21.8%) respectively, against which $6.9 billion of gross claims were paid (increased by 26.7%). The gross premiums were driven by offshore Property Damage business amounting to $5.1 billion (increased by 8.3%), offshore Accident & Health business amounting to $3.4 billion (increased by 56.4%) and offshore Motor Vehicle business amounting to $1.9 billion (increased by 29.8%). The underwriting result recovered from a loss of $0.2 billion in the corresponding period of 2025 to a profit of $0.3 billion, supported by offshore Property Damage business and offshore Motor Vehicle business.
As of 31 March 2026, the total and net assets under general business were $351.9 billion and $137.7 billion respectively.
A summary is at Annex. Some related information on assets and liabilities of the Hong Kong insurance market for the first quarter of 2026 is also available at the IA website.
Ends
Note:
1 Including lapsation/surrender benefits of $43.9 billion, as well as other claims and benefits of $48.4 billion.