31 May 2019
The Insurance Authority (IA) today (31 May 2019) released provisional statistics of the Hong Kong insurance industry for the first quarter of 2019, with total gross premiums reaching $148.8 billion, indicating an increase of 12.3% over the corresponding period in 2018.
(Percentage changes in brackets in the following paragraphs represent changes over the corresponding period of last year)
Long term business
The total amount of revenue premiums of long term in-force business was $132.2 billion in the first quarter of 2019 (increased by 13%). Revenue premiums of Individual Life and Annuity (Non-Linked) business were $115.9 billion (increased by 16.2%) while those of Individual Life and Annuity (Linked) business amounted to $6.6 billion (decreased by 21.7%). Contributions of Retirement Scheme business reached $8.1 billion (increased by 11.3%).
On new business, new office premiums (excluding Retirement Scheme business) of long term business were $48.4 billion (increased by 9.4%), including $45.6 billion from Individual Life and Annuity (Non-Linked) business (increased by 14.6%) and $2.6 billion from Linked business (decreased by 37.8%).
New office premiums in respect of policies issued to Mainland visitors totalled $12.8 billion (increased by 7.9%), accounting for 26.4% of the total new office premiums for individual business. Among these new policies, about 96% were medical or protective in nature, such as critical illness, medical, whole life, term life and annuity products. In terms of premium payment pattern, about 99% of the policies were paid at regular intervals, i.e. non-single premiums.
General business
The gross and net premiums of general insurance business recorded in the first quarter of 2019 were $16.6 billion (increased by 7%) and $11.4 billion (increased by 7.7%) respectively. Overall underwriting performance turned from a loss of $166 million in the first quarter of 2018 to a profit of $44 million in the first quarter of 2019.
On direct business, gross and net premiums reached $12.8 billion (increased by 9.4%) and $8.8 billion (increased by 10.1%) respectively. Accident and Health business (comprising Medical business) continued to be the major contributor of premium growth. Contributed by several newly authorized insurers, Ships business also showed strong growth, with gross premiums reaching $1.6 billion (increased by 25.5%) in the first quarter of 2019.
Direct business generated an underwriting profit of $292 million (increased by 75%). General Liability business (comprising Employees’ Compensation business) turned from a loss of $42 million to a profit of $88 million, mainly attributable to improved claims experience. Accident and Health business (comprising Medical business) also turned from a loss of $3 million to a profit of $99 million, mainly driven by premium growth. On the other hand, the underwriting profit for Property Damage business reduced to $74 million (decreased by 58.8%) due to reserve adjustment for typhoon related claims. Underwriting performance for Motor Vehicle business worsened by 58.3% as compared with the corresponding period of 2018, reporting a loss of $49 million, owing to deteriorating claims experience and claims reserve strengthening.
On reinsurance inward business, gross and net premiums stood at $3.8 billion and $2.5 billion respectively in the first quarter of 2019, on a par with that in the corresponding period of 2018. Although underwriting performance still recorded a loss of HK$248 million, it improved by 25.6% as compared with the corresponding period of 2018. Due to improved claims experience, the underwriting profit of Property Damage business increased to HK$179 million (increased by 130.5%) in the first quarter of 2019.
A summary of provisional statistics of the Hong Kong insurance business for the first quarter of 2019 is in the annex . Further details are available at the IA website ( www.ia.org.hk ).
Ends