City will roll out road map to build risk management hub
The government will lay out a road map for the development of the insurance industry to bolster Hong Kong’s role as a global risk management centre at an industry conference on Monday, according to the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu.
The government will use the Asian Insurance Forum to set out its “visions, missions and policy measures to further enhance Hong Kong’s role as an international insurance and risk management hub”, Hui wrote in his blog yesterday.
“To align the regulatory framework in Hong Kong with international standards while ensuring financial stability, we plan to put in place a risk-based capital regime, which will make capital requirements more sensitive to the level of risk borne by insurance companies.”
The annual event, hosted by the Insurance Authority, the city’s regulator for the industry, will be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.
Speakers will include Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu as well as representatives from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors and major multinational insurance groups, according to a programme on the event’s website.
Hui, who contracted Covid-19 last week, will also be speaking.
FINANCIAL SERVICES AND THE TREASURY
“While I am still under isolation, I am very much looking forward to exchanging views on the development road map and other issues with leaders and experts of the industry at the forum, and together charting the way forward,” he said.
His coronavirus experience, he added, had overturned his life and work schedules and driven him “to reflect on the importance of risk management, which is essential to people, the economy and the society”.
China’s 14th five-year plan setting out key economic and political goals for 2021 to 2025 had called for Hong Kong to strengthen its role as an international risk management centre, and the local government had “spared no effort” in leveraging the city’s position as a bridge between the mainland and international markets, Hui said.
In July, the monetary authorities of China and Hong Kong agreed to work on establishing the Swap Connect, a mutual access mechanism that will allow foreign investors to hedge against risks in the 3.7 trillion yuan (HK$4.1 trillion) of onshore bonds they hold.
The Insurance Authority has also launched platforms to help Hong Kong and international insurance companies capture business opportunities arising from large-scale infrastructure and investment projects such as Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative that aims to connect more than 70 countries across Asia, Europe and Africa via a “New Silk Road” of railways, highways and ports.
“This will strengthen Hong Kong’s function as the risk management centre in the region, and contribute to national strategies including the Belt and Road Initiative,” Hui said.
“We will maintain close communication with the industry and relevant mainland authorities, with a view to exploring further deepening and expanding of mutual access to insurance markets.”
I am very much looking forward to exchanging views on the development road map and other issues with leaders and experts
CHRISTOPHER HUI, SECRETARY FOR