Insurance experts examine Hong Kong’s pivotal role in supporting Belt and Road projects via captive insurance
11 September 2024
The Insurance Authority (IA) today (11 September 2024) hosted a thematic breakout session at the Belt and Road Summit1 to delve into the role of captive insurance in supporting Belt and Road projects, particularly those on less coal intensive energy, and how the insurance professional services ecosystem in Hong Kong can offer essential support and facilitation to these projects.
The panel, moderated by Mr MM Lee, Executive Director of the General Business Division of the IA, pulled together senior executives from a global broker, a leading captive insurer in Hong Kong and a reinsurer to speak on the use of captive insurance in managing risks derived from overseas energy projects, the emerging opportunities and challenges brought about by energy transition, and risk management related to other fast-growing sectors such as electric vehicles that would benefit from sustainable development along the Belt and Road.
The panelists also explored the role of Hong Kong as an international risk management hub in developing the captive market. “The use of captives by Mainland enterprises to holistically monitor their overseas project risks and scale up their intra-group risk management capacity is gaining prominence,” said Mr Lee. “Being a global risk management centre, Hong Kong is well-positioned to provide comprehensive professional services to facilitate the operations of captive insurers. We stand ready to be the preferred captive domicile for state-owned and private corporations in the Mainland which are expanding their global footprint or shepherding projects in the Belt and Road countries.”
Other topics covered in the panel discussion included how to nurture a more vibrant risk management ecosystem in Hong Kong, values that a Hong Kong-based captive insurer could bring to its parent company, and how the Hong Kong insurance sector could support the demand for reinsurance capacity by captives and capture the evolving risk management needs amid the low-carbon energy transition.
Ends
The Insurance Authority (IA) hosted a thematic breakout session to explore the role of captive insurance in supporting Belt and Road projects.
Note:
1The Belt and Road Summit is a premier international platform for promoting business collaboration along the Belt and Road. The Summit gathers senior government officials and business leaders from countries and regions along and beyond the Belt and Road to exchange insights on multilateral co-operation and explore concrete business opportunities.