31 January 2022
The Insurance Authority (“IA”) has reprimanded and ordered the insurers formerly known as Metlife Limited and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of Hong Kong Limited (collectively, the “Companies”) to pay a pecuniary penalty of HK$7 million for contravening seven specified provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (Cap. 615) (“AMLO”) 1, 2 .
The disciplinary action follows an investigation by the IA which discovered the following failures by the Companies, during the period from January 2015 to October 2017:
The Companies have already taken remedial measures to address the deficiencies identified.
The IA takes these failures seriously and wants to send a clear message to the industry that all authorized insurers and licensed insurance intermediaries carrying on long term business should have in place effective anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing controls and procedures. The insurance industry must be founded on trust and integrity and the establishment of effective systems and controls to combat money laundering and terrorist financing is imperative to reinforce that trust and maintain Hong Kong’s position as an international finance centre.
The Companies were acquired by the FWD group on 30 June 2020 and are now named FWD Life (Hong Kong) Limited and FWD Life Assurance Company (Hong Kong) Limited, and are under entirely new management.
Statement of Disciplinary Action
Ends
Notes:
1 The disciplinary action is taken under section 21 to AMLO. AMLO imposes customer due diligence and record-keeping requirements on financial institutions, including authorized insurers carrying on long term insurance business. The IA is the relevant authority under the AMLO in relation to authorized insurers and licensed insurance intermediaries carrying on long term insurance business.
2 The Companies contravened sections 5(1), 10(1), 10(2), 15, 19(1), 19(3) and 23 of Schedule 2 to AMLO.