The Chief Executive has appointed Mr Douglas Lam Tak-yip, SC, as the chairperson of the Insurance Appeals Tribunal (IAT) for a term of three years, and 23 persons as members of the IAT panel for a term of two years. The appointments will take effect from July 26, 2017.

     The IAT is a statutory tribunal established under the Insurance Companies (Amendment) Ordinance 2015 to review specified decisions made by the Insurance Authority (IA). The IAT consists of the chairperson and two ordinary members selected by the chairperson from a pool of panel members. The IAT will be formed when there is a case to be reviewed.

     Announcing the appointments today (May 26), a Government spokesman said, "The establishment of the IAT, an independent quasi-judicial body, modernises the appellate mechanism under the new regulatory regime. It will be an effective safeguard to ensure that the relevant regulatory decisions made by the IA are reasonable and fair.

     "Mr Lam, with rich experience handling appeal cases in other tribunals, would contribute to the effective operation of the IAT. Members of the IAT panel come from different lines of business with expertise within the insurance industry, as well as from related fields such as consumer protection, law, accounting, academia, banking and management. Their diverse backgrounds will provide wise counsel on the work of the IAT."

     The IA is a new insurance regulator independent of the Government. The IA will take over the statutory functions of the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) on June 26, 2017, and eventually take over the regulation of insurance intermediaries from the three self-regulatory organisations. Under the existing regulatory regime, appeals against certain decisions of the OCI are made to the Financial Secretary.

     Following is the list of members of the IAT panel:

Mr Frederick Chan Hing-fai
Ms Karen Chan Ka-yin
Professor Stella Cho Lung Pui-lan
Mr Alex Chu Wing-yiu
Professor Goo Say-hak
Mr Dennis Ho Chiu-ping
Mr Marvin Hsu Tsun-fai
Mr Eric Hui
Professor Michael Hui King-man
Mr Adrian King
Miss Anna-Mae Koo Mei-jong
Ms Juan Leung Chung-yan
Dr Miranda Lou Lai-wah
Mr Philip Mak Shun-pong
Mr Andrew Mak Yip-shing
Professor Joshua Mok Ka-ho
Dr Patrick Poon Sun-cheong
Mr Bhabani Sankar Rath
Mr Soo Kwok-leung
Ms Phoebe Tse Siu-ling
Dr William Wong Ming-fung
Mr Charles Yang Chuen-liang
Dr Samuel Yung Wing-ki

Ends/Friday, May 26, 2017
Issued at HKT 15:00

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