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The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) encourages insurers to tackle competitive market challenges by developing new products and exploring new business opportunities.
The call was made by the Commissioner of Insurance, Mr Richard Yuen, when releasing the OCI Annual Report 2005 today (February 28).
Mr Yuen predicted that the demand for insurance was set to grow as Hong Kong people and corporations were becoming more aware of the need to protect themselves against risk.
Noting that Hong Kong was growing more important as a trade and business centre, Mr Yuen encouraged insurers to explore more market opportunities in the emerging lines of business.
On the travel insurance issue, Mr Yuen stressed that the OCI had worked out new regulatory measures, which would promote cooperation between the insurance industry and travel industry.
"To provide the public with convenient access to taking out travel insurance, the OCI took the initiative in 2005 to introduce a new regulatory system to enable travel agencies to be registered as travel insurance agents so they could sell this type of insurance under proper supervision," Mr Yuen said.
Reviewing the trade performance, he said, "Capitalising on the growing wealth of Hong Kong's community and our development into a wealth management centre, Hong Kong's long-term insurance business has been sustaining double-digit annual growth throughout the past decade.
"This market growth is particularly reflected by the increasing popularity of investment-linked insurance products.
"To foster a closer cooperation of regulatory efforts, the OCI and the Securities and Futures Commission concluded a memorandum of understanding in 2005 on information exchange and mutual assistance.
"Hong Kong takes pride in having one of the most open and effectively regulated insurance markets in the world. The OCI is committed to enhancing insurance regulation and adhering to the highest international regulatory principles and standards to meet an increasingly dynamic and competitive market environment," Mr Yuen said.
At December 31, 2005, there were 175 authorised insurers, 49,708 appointed insurance agents (including their responsible officers and technical representatives) and 5,186 authorised insurance brokers (including their chief executives and technical representatives) operating in Hong Kong.
The OCI Annual Report 2005 carries a summary of insurance statistics and an overview of the work of the Insurance Authority. Members of the public may obtain copies of the annual report from the OCI's website http://www.oci.gov.hk.
Ends/Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:31
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