Insurance Companies

Overview

Our insurance lawyers have extensive experience advising insurance companies in Hong Kong on insurance law matters. Our insurance practice is a part of our market leading practice in Hong Kong financial services regulation, for which we have been consistently recognized by independent editorial publications, including the International Financial Law Review 1000 (ILFR1000), the Legal 500, Chambers and Partners and Asialaw Profiles, and for which our lawyers have been consistently recognized as “leading”, “highly regarded”, “well regarded” and “market-leading” lawyers.

Our corporate and regulatory lawyers have extensive experience advising insurance companies and insurance intermediaries, including insurance agencies and insurance brokers, regulated by the Insurance Authority (“IA”).

Our work includes advising on the following:

• Insurance licenses & authorization, including the authorization and licensing requirements for insurance companies and insurance intermediaries under the Insurance Ordinance (“IO”)

• Ongoing regulatory compliance, including compliance with applicable insurance laws, regulations and requirements including those set out in the IO and subsidiary legislation and various codes, guidelines and other regulatory guidance issued by the IA, the Securities and Futures Commission (“SFC”) in respect of insurance investment products (e.g. investment-linked assurance schemes or “ILAS”) regulated by the Code of Investment Linked Assurance Schemes (“ILAS Code”) and mandatory provident fund (“MPF”) products regulated jointly by the IA, the SFC and the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (“MPFA”) and anti-money laundering (“AML”) obligations

• M&A advisory for insurance companies, including mergers and acquisitions involving authorized insurers, licensed insurance agents and licensed insurance brokers, and compliance with applicable regulatory obligations arising from any changes in controllers, directors, key persons in control functions or appointed actuary

• White collar crime & regulatory defence, including responding to investigations and defending and appeals from enforcement action by regulatory bodies including the IA

Prior to the introduction of the statutory licensing regime for insurance agents and brokers under the new Insurance Ordinance (“IO”) (formerly the Insurance Companies Ordinance), we acted for insurance brokerage firms and insurance agencies under the self-regulatory system operated by the 3 self-regulatory organisations (“SROs”), namely the Professional Insurance Brokers Association ("PIBA"), the Hong Kong Confederation of Insurance Brokers ("CIB"), and the Insurance Agents Registration Board ("IARB") established under the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers ("HKFI"), and represented insurance clients in disciplinary proceedings before these SROs and their appeal tribunals. As a result, we have developed broad and deep experience in insurance regulation over the years and are familiar with the new licensing regime under the IO and the regulatory framework established by the IA to directly regulate insurance intermediaries.