An insurance insider revealed that Mainland Chinese spending on Hong Kong insurance is expected to return to pre-pandemic levels next year.
Insurance spending in Hong Kong has been in a slump for the past three years, with figures falling 84% in 2020 from 2019 and nearly 90% in 2021 from 2020. Between 2016 and 2019, the HK insurance industry recorded an annual average of HK$53.6 billion.
In a report from Yicai Global, a salesperson who has been working for a major HK insurance firm for eight years said that the current market is “as hot as it was in 2015 and 2016.” This insider said that 2015 was a peak for the sector, as customers sought consultations throughout the day. It’s a far cry from the pandemic period, which saw the insider’s team halved due to the slowdown of the global economy.
Figures from UBS revealed that of the 1,000 mainlanders who visited Hong Kong before the border reopening, around two-thirds said that they intend to buy insurance within a year.
The insurance market in Hong Kong began to rise again in 2022, when policies taken out by the mainland residents tripled to HK$2.1 billion from its 2021 figure. According to Midland Financial Group business manager Xiao Liqi, this figure is expected to skyrocket this year by 15 times to HK$30 billion.
The growth of the Hong Kong insurance sector stretches even to Web3, which has seen a downturn due to recent crypto controversies. A report found that a Chinese state-owned insurer recently opened two crypto funds in Hong Kong in partnership with investment firm Waterdrip Capital.
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