History

On 7 December 2015, the Insurance Authority (“IA”) was established under the Insurance Companies (Amendment) Ordinance 2015 (“IC(A)O”). The IA is a new insurance regulator independent of the Government. The objectives of its establishment are to modernise the regulatory infrastructure to facilitate the stable development of the Hong Kong insurance industry, provide better protection for policy holders, and comply with the requirement of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors that insurance regulators should be financially and operationally independent of the government and industry.

On 26 June 2017, the IA took over the regulatory functions of the then Office of the Commissioner of Insurance, which was a government department, and started regulating insurance companies. On 23 September 2019, the IA took over the regulation of insurance intermediaries from the three Self-Regulatory Organisations (“SROs”).

The three SROs are the Insurance Agents Registration Board established under The Hong Kong Federation of Insurers, The Hong Kong Confederation of Insurance Brokers and Professional Insurance Brokers Association.