Size of Industry 行業規模

Authorized Insurers 獲授權保險人

To carry on insurance business in Hong Kong, an insurer must be authorized by the Insurance Authority (IA) under the Insurance Ordinance (Cap. 41). In recent years the total number of authorized insurers has stayed at around 160. Many of them belong to overseas insurance groups, which shows Hong Kong's role as an international insurance hub.

Authorized insurers fall into three groups by the business they write: general business insurers (the largest group), long term business insurers, and composite insurers, which write both kinds of business (the smallest group). Professional reinsurers and captive insurers are counted as authorized insurers too. Lloyd's operates in Hong Kong under special arrangements in the Insurance Ordinance.

The IA keeps a public register of authorized insurers. Exam questions usually test how the categories compare and how they are classified, not one year's exact figures. For exact numbers, check the IA's latest published data.

Licensed Insurance Intermediaries 持牌保險中介人

Since 23 September 2019, insurance intermediaries have been licensed and regulated directly by the IA. There are well over 100,000 licensed insurance intermediaries, which is a very large workforce for a city of a little over seven million people.

There are two routes to a licence. The agency route covers licensed insurance agencies, licensed individual insurance agents and licensed technical representatives (agent), who all act for the insurers that appoint them. The broker route covers licensed insurance broker companies and licensed technical representatives (broker), who act for policy holders.

By headcount, the great majority of licensed intermediaries are individuals (individual agents and technical representatives), not firms. Among firms, insurance agencies (including banks doing bancassurance) outnumber insurance broker companies. Loss adjusters and actuaries work in the insurance industry, but they are not licensed insurance intermediaries.

Persons Employed 獲聘用的人

Besides licensed intermediaries, the insurance industry employs many people in underwriting, claims, actuarial work, customer service, investment, information technology, compliance and administration. These staff do not need an intermediary licence as long as they do not carry on regulated activities, such as soliciting business or advising on policies.

Keep 'persons employed' and 'licensed intermediaries' apart. Many individual agents work on commission under an agency agreement with an insurer or agency, so they are self-employed rather than employees. On the other hand, a claims clerk in an insurer's office is an employee but not a licensed intermediary. The two sets of figures should therefore not simply be added together or treated as the same thing.

Insurance is a major part of Hong Kong's financial services sector, alongside banking and securities. It provides many local jobs and earns invisible earnings.

Premium Volume 保費收入

Premium volume is usually measured as gross premiums. The IA publishes the statistics every quarter and every year. In recent years Hong Kong's total gross premiums have run to several hundred billion Hong Kong dollars a year.

Long term business makes up the large majority of total premiums, typically about four-fifths or more. Most of it comes from individual life and annuity policies, both non-linked and linked. Retirement scheme management, such as Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) business, is also long term business. In recent years, policies bought by Mainland visitors have made up a significant share of new individual life premiums.

General business brings in much less premium. It includes both direct business and reinsurance inward. The main classes include accident and health, property damage, general liability (including employees' compensation) and motor.

Two measures are commonly used to compare markets: insurance penetration (premiums as a percentage of GDP) and insurance density (premium per head of population). Hong Kong has consistently ranked among the highest in the world on both.