Hong Kong

Neil Gardner has been appointed as Asia chief customer officer at Generali Asia in September 2017.

More than half of Hong Kong’s workforce have experienced income loss due to illness or disability. Yet a survey by Zurich Insurance (Hong Kong) revealed that half of the local workforce lack sufficient savings to last six months without income. The report also revealed that Hong Kongers feel they are most vulnerable to income loss. Only a quarter of respondents believe they have a less than 10% chance of lost earnings due to illness or disability, versus the more confident 38% average of the 11 markets surveyed.

An invasion is afoot in the Hong Kong insurance industry, and it is led by non-insurers entering the market to acquire established local players. Even technology behemoths seeking synergies are in on it. In June 2016, mainland Chinese real estate company Fujian Thai Hot Investment agreed to purchase the life insurance operations of Dah Sing Financial Holdings for US$1.3b (HK$10.6b), whilst Jack Ma’s Alibaba-backed Yunfeng Financial agreed to buy the Asia unit of MassMutual for US$1.7b. Analysts reckoned the former deal is an example of a non-insurer firm spending billions not merely to diversify, but to own a strategic enterprise that can fuel their other lines of business.

Across the diverse Asia Pacific region, a number of forces are converging to create a pressing need for insurers to innovate throughout their entire value chain: premium growth is slowing, even as new markets open; consumer demands for digital products and services are increasing; competition within, and from outside, the region is growing; and regulators are developing more complex rules to protect consumers and reduce market risks.

They spent US$4.1b on insurance policies in 2015.