23 February 2022
The Insurance Authority (IA) today (23 February 2022) published its Annual Report 2020-21 entitled “Embracing the New Normal”, giving an overview of major events and activities that took place in the reporting year.
“The IA has captured opportunities afforded by the national strategy of ‘dual circulation’ and closer connectivity between cities within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, reinforcing the role of Hong Kong as a global risk management centre and regional insurance hub. Issuance of the first catastrophe bond, operationalisation of the group-wide supervision framework as well as sharpened focus on green and sustainable finance are some notable achievements,” said Mr Clement Cheung, Chief Executive Officer of the IA.
“In the face of COVID-19, we rolled out targeted relief measures by allowing distribution of specific insurance products without face-to-face interaction with the customers and providing flexibility for insurance intermediaries to meet the deadline for filing statutory submissions and to fulfil the required hours of continuing professional development. The chance was taken to spur adoption of Insurtech through virtual on-boarding and Open Application Programming Interfaces. Furthermore, the IA streamlined the licensing process by enhancing functionalities of the e-portal, kick-started the renewal exercise for deemed licensees, commenced its disciplinary mechanism and intensified co-operation with other fellow financial regulators via joint inspections and Mystery Shopping Programmes,” he added.
The report also gives an account of efforts made by the IA in expediting implementation of the Risk-based Capital Regime, updating design parameters of the Policy Holders’ Protection Scheme and empowering the general public with knowledge on lifetime risk profiling.
The Annual Report 2020-21, in full and simplified versions, is available on the IA website .
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