What’s new: A new set of guidelines issued by China’s top economic planner and commerce ministry urge relevant authorities to promote the integration of the insurance markets in Hong Kong, Macao and the wealthy southern metropolis of Shenzhen.
Financial and health authorities should ramp up their efforts to connect the insurance market of Shenzhen with those in the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, according to the guidelines released Wednesday by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce. The guidelines are part of a wider plan to push for reforms in the Guangdong province financial hub.
These efforts should include setting up an insurance service center in Shenzhen to allow Hong Kong and Macao insurers to provide claim settlement services and other after-sale service in a convenient manner, the guidelines said. A trial program will be launched in the Chinese mainland city’s public hospitals, allowing the insurers’ clients to receive reimbursement for the cost of offshore drugs.
The background: Regulators have been working to develop an insurance connect program modeled on existing programs linking the bond and stock markets between Hong Kong and the mainland, in a bid to solve problems in cross-border insurance services.
Right now, mainland residents seeking to buy insurance from Hong Kong insurers are required to make the purchase in person in the city. Hong Kong insurers are not allowed to conduct consulting or sales activities on the mainland.
According to a September Swiss Re Institute report, direct individual life and health premiums in Hong Kong from mainland consumers in 2020 were more than three times the level in 2015.
Contact reporter Kelsey Cheng (kelseycheng@caixin.com) and editor Joshua Dummer (joshuadummer@caixin.com)
