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The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) today (August 31) released provisional statistics of the Hong Kong insurance industry for the first half of 2011.
Total gross premiums of the Hong Kong insurance industry in the first half of 2011 amounted to $114.7 billion, representing an increase of 14.0 per cent over the corresponding period in 2010.
In the first half of 2011, gross and net premiums of general insurance business rose by 12.7 per cent to $18.7 billion and 10.1 per cent to $12.9 billion respectively compared with the corresponding period in 2010. Overall underwriting profit also increased from $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion.
Regarding direct business, gross premiums gained 8.5 per cent to $13.9 billion and net premiums gained a similar growth to $10.3 billion in the first half of 2011 compared with the corresponding period in 2010. Premium growth was propelled again by Accident and Health business (comprising Medical business), the gross and net premiums of which were $5 billion and $4.2 billion respectively. General Liability business (comprising Employees' Compensation business) and Motor Vehicle business also contributed to the overall business growth. The former recorded gross and net premiums of $3.5 billion and $2.6 billion respectively, while the latter recorded $1.6 billion and $1.3 billion respectively, However, as a result of the slowdown in property transactions, gross and net premiums of Pecuniary Loss business (comprising Mortgage Guarantee business) dropped by 14.6 per cent to $698 million and 18.7 per cent to $427 million respectively.
The underwriting profit of direct business remained flat at $964 million in the first half of 2011, compared to $962 million in the corresponding period of 2010. Benefiting from improved claims experience, Property Damage business reported an increase in underwriting profit from $132 million to $237 million. Despite a double-digit growth in gross premiums, the underwriting profit of both Accident and Health business and Motor Vehicle business recorded a fall from $249 million to $186 million and from $142 million to $58 million respectively due to deterioration in claims experience.
On reinsurance inward business, gross and net premiums grew from $3.8 billion to $4.8 billion and from $2.2 billion to $2.6 billion respectively in the first half of 2011 compared with the corresponding period in 2010, primarily attributable to the premium increase for Property Damage and General Liability businesses. The strong premium growth also drove the underwriting profit to increase from $311 million to $488 million.
Total revenue premiums of long term in-force business reached $96 billion in the first half of 2011, increasing by 14.3 per cent over the same period of 2010.
Revenue premiums of Individual Life and Annuity (Non-Linked) business and Individual Life and Annuity (Linked) business increased by 22.3 per cent to $63.1 billion and by 23.6 per cent to $25.2 billion respectively. Contributions of Retirement Scheme business plunged by 41.0 per cent to $6.4 billion.
New office premiums (excluding Retirement Scheme business) of long term business for the first half of 2011 increased significantly by 35.5 per cent to $38.6 billion compared with the same period of 2010. Both Individual Life and Annuity (Non-Linked) and Individual Life and Annuity (Linked) business recorded significant premium growth - the former increased by 34.1 per cent to $26.6 billion and the latter increased by 39.7 per cent to $11.9 billion in terms of new office premiums.
In respect of new policies issued to Mainland visitors, office premiums amounted to $2.9 billion, representing 7.5 per cent of the total new office premiums ($38.5 billion) for individual business in the first half of 2011.
A summary of provisional statistics of the Hong Kong insurance business for the first half of 2011 is at the Annex. Further details can be downloaded from the OCI's website: www.oci.gov.hk.
Ends/Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Issued at HKT 15:05
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