HK Insurance Authority continues pandemic distribution arrangement
Hong Kong’s Insurance Authority (IA) has further extended its temporary facilitative measures until April 30, 2023, allowing the continued non-face-to-face distribution of certain protective insurance products.
These facilitative measures have been in place since early 2020 – when the COVID-19 pandemic was breaking out across Hong Kong and mainland China – and have been repeatedly extended for periods of around six months at a time.
The measures allow insurers and intermediaries to distribute insurance through various virtual and distanced methods, such as digital, telemarketing, postal or video conferencing. Insurers and intermediaries are required to make upfront disclosure at the point of sale, as well as provide an extended cooling-off period of at least 30 calendar days for the protection of policyholders, the IA said.
Products covered by the temporary facilitative measures include qualifying deferred annuity policy, voluntary health insurance scheme products, term life policies, and refundable policies without substantial savings components or renewable policies without cash value that provide insurance protection.
Even as COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong show a downtrend, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said on Sunday that authorities must be cautious in rolling back restrictions, and that Hong Kong can only fully reopen when a higher vaccination rate has been achieved.
