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IA’s Service Portals > Belt and Road Insurance Exchange Facilitation (BRIEF) > Insurance experts discuss how Hong Kong can sustain its role of a risk management centre for the Belt and Road Initiative under evolving macro environment

Insurance experts discuss how Hong Kong can sustain its role of a risk management centre for the Belt and Road Initiative under evolving macro environment

1 December 2020


The COVID-19 pandemic, global economic downturn and heightened geopolitical tensions ushered in a new era for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Hong Kong’s role as a risk management centre for the BRI. Against this backdrop, the Insurance Authority (IA) hosted a thematic breakout forum at the Belt and Road Summit1 today (1 December 2020) in which a panel of insurance and banking experts discussed how Hong Kong could better serve the BRI in the new era.

The panel, comprising senior executives from a captive insurer owned by a Central State-Owned Enterprise, a reinsurer, an international insurance broker and a bank with solid footprints along the Belt and Road, examined a wide range of timely topics concerning the BRI, including the new risk landscape facing Mainland enterprises investing in overseas BRI projects, the strategy for strengthening value propositions of Hong Kong’s financial services sector in offering solutions in risk management, financing and treasury for the BRI, and how to make BRI a sustainable growth driver for Hong Kong.

“Risk management underscores the resilience of enterprises in coping with the evolving macro-economic outlook and the changing risk landscape. Risk Management assumes an ever more important role in the new era in supporting enterprises to manage against the next crises,” said Mr Simon Lam, Executive Director of General Business of the IA.

“The IA has been committed to building Hong Kong into a risk management centre and (re)insurance hub for Central State-Owned Enterprises (CSOEs) and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) investing in the BRI. Through leveraging Hong Kong’s inherent advantages as a well-established international financial centre, a ‘one-stopped shopping approach’ can be developed to provide combined solutions for CSOEs and SOEs to satisfy their finance and risk management needs, making the city more attractive and competitive,” he added.

In order to attract a critical mass of market participants and remain competitive among our archrivals, the IA is pushing ahead with early introduction of profits tax concession for insurers and broker companies to promote the development of marine and specialty risks insurance in Hong Kong and for insurance brokers. The Legislative Council has also passed an amendment bill in July 2020 to expand the scope of insurable risks by captive insurers set up in Hong Kong to enhance the effectiveness of the global risk management strategy of multi-national companies. Finally, the Specialty Risks Consortium conceived by the IA is also pooling together CSOEs and SOEs with risk management and (re)insurance services providers to deliver tailored risk management and (re)insurance solutions.

Ends

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.
 


The Insurance Authority (IA) hosted a thematic breakout forum at the Belt and Road Summit in which a panel of insurance and banking experts discussed how Hong Kong could better serve the BRI in the new era.