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Information Center > Press Releases > The Insurance Authority reprimands and bans Yam Wai Shu for 5 months

The Insurance Authority reprimands and bans Yam Wai Shu for 5 months

7 Jul 2021


The Insurance Authority (“IA”) has reprimanded Yam Wai Shu, a former individual insurance agent appointed by Prudential Hong Kong Limited (“Prudential”)1 and prohibited him from applying to be licensed for 5 months from 28 June 2021 to 27 November 2021 for contravening the Insurance Ordinance (Cap. 41) (“Ordinance”) and the IA’s Code of Conduct for Licensed Insurance Agents (“Code of Conduct”).

The disciplinary action arises from a message Mr Yam sent through his social media account to everyone on his contact list on 23 January 2020 (“Message”), seeking to use the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) to encourage recipients of the Message to leave Hubei Province and come to Hong Kong to escape the pandemic and take out insurance from him. The Message was sent at a time when the HKSAR Government was taking steps to limit travel from Hubei Province to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The IA received numerous complaints about the Message which appeared to be the cause of considerable public concern.

The IA concluded that, in sending the Message, Mr Yam had:

  • contravened Standard and Practice 1.2(c) of the Code of Conduct which requires a licensed individual insurance agent to comply with the policies, procedures and other applicable requirements of its appointing insurers in relation to the carrying on of regulated activities (in this instance Mr Yam had contravened Prudential’s internal policy on cross-border selling practices);
  • carried on regulated activity without integrity in contravention of section 90(a) of the Ordinance and undertook an act relating to the carrying on of a regulated activity which, in the IA’s opinion, was or was likely to be prejudicial to the public interest; and
  • failed to exercise a level of care, skill and diligence that may reasonably be expected of a prudent person who is carrying on regulated activity in contravention of section 90(b) of the Ordinance.

By reason of the above, Mr Yam is found guilty of one count of misconduct as defined under section 80(1) of the Ordinance, and thereby Mr Yam was not a fit and proper person as defined under section 81(1) of the Ordinance to be a licensed individual insurance agent.

In deciding the sanction, the IA took into account all relevant circumstances, including the short duration of Mr Yam’s misconduct, the remorse he has demonstrated and his otherwise clean disciplinary record.

It is essential for the insurance market to be founded on trust. That trust depends on licensed insurance intermediaries demonstrating ethical business practices when selling and advising on insurance, through whatever medium of communication they use (whether face-to-face or social media platforms). It is imperative that licensed insurance intermediaries adhere to the ethical business practices required in the Insurance Ordinance and the Code of Conduct when carrying on regulated activities, so as to ensure trust and confidence in the insurance market is maintained and continually reinforced. The IA has no tolerance for unethical business practices and perpetrators of such practices can expect severe disciplinary penalties.

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Note:

1 Mr Yam was appointed by Prudential as an insurance agent between 24 February 2016 and 26 January 2020. He was registered with the Insurance Agents Registration Board established under The Hong Kong Federation of Insurers from 24 February 2016 and continued to carry out regulated activities as an “Individual Insurance Agent” under section 64W of the IO after the IA took over the regulation of insurance intermediaries on 23 September 2019.