23 October 2026
The Insurance Authority (IA) today (23 October 2026) released provisional statistics for the first half of 2026, with total gross premiums reaching $573.6 billion (increased by 35.5%).
Long term business
New office premiums (excluding Retirement Scheme business) of long term business were $275.2 billion (increased by 58.4%), mainly composed of $262.9 billion derived from Non-Linked individual business (increased by 57.8%) which can be further broken down into participating business of $245.4 billion (increased by 63.7%) and other businesses of $17.5 billion (increased by 4.9%), as well as $12 billion from Linked individual business (increased by 73.7%). Some 33,000 Qualifying Deferred Annuity Policies were issued, contributing $2.1 billion or 0.8% of the total premiums for individual business.
Total revenue premiums of in-force business were $509.9 billion in the first half of 2026 (increased by 39.7%), mainly composed of $465.8 billion derived from Non-Linked individual business (increased by 44.8%), $17.8 billion from Linked individual business (increased by 40%), and $22.2 billion from Retirement Scheme business (decreased by 16.7%). Moreover, the total claims and benefits paid were $179.8 billion (decreased by 6.3%)1.
As of 30 June 2026, the total and net assets under long term business were $5,831.5 billion and $799.2 billion respectively.
General business
In the first half of 2026, the total gross premiums of general business were $63.7 billion (increased by 9.1%) which can be further broken down into direct onshore business of $28.6 billion (increased by 2%), direct offshore business of $3 billion (increased by 13.1%), reinsurance inward onshore business of $4.5 billion (increased by 2.4%), and reinsurance inward offshore business of $27.5 billion (increased by 18.4%). The net premiums were $42.1 billion (increased by 5.7%), while total $31.3 billion of gross claims were paid (increased by 22.2%). The overall operating profit was $9.6 billion (increased by 48.1%), of which $5.8 billion was attributable to underwriting profit (increased by 253.1%).
Direct business recorded gross and net premiums of $31.7 billion (increased by 3%) and $20.9 billion (decreased by 0.7%) respectively, against which gross claims of $19 billion were paid (increased by 37.9%). The gross premiums largely came from onshore Accident & Health business which contributed $14.3 billion (increased by 7.8%), followed by onshore Employees’ Compensation business of $3.5 billion (decreased by 17.5%). The gross premiums of offshore Marine, Aviation, and Transport business also rose to $1.5 billion (increased by 18.1%). The overall underwriting profit of $4.7 billion (increased by 241.3%) was primarily driven by onshore Pecuniary Loss (including mortgage guarantee) business, which recovered from a loss of $0.3 billion to a profit of $3.1 billion.
On reinsurance inward business, gross and net premiums were $32.1 billion (increased by 15.8%) and $21.3 billion (increased by 12.9%) respectively, against which gross claims of $12.3 billion were paid (increased by 3.9%). The gross premiums largely came from offshore Property Damage business amounting to $10.7 billion (increased by 4%) and offshore Accident & Health business amounting to $7.2 billion (increased by 56.7%). The overall underwriting profit went up by 317.5% to $1.1 billion, mainly bolstered by offshore Property Damage business.
As of 30 June 2026, the total and net assets under general business were $358.5 billion and $139.8 billion respectively.
A summary is at Annex. Some related information on assets and liabilities of the Hong Kong insurance market for the first half of 2026 is also available at the IA website.
Ends
Note:
1 Including lapsation/surrender benefits of $88.8 billion, as well as other claims and benefits of $91 billion.