The BRI presents a suite of new business prospects related to large-scale infrastructure and investment projects. Mainland enterprises and other project owners are exposed to a multitude of specialty risks associated with their BRI investments. Hong Kong is well positioned to provide professional risk management services and effective insurance coverage for BRI projects.

The surge in the number of BRI projects has resulted in a huge demand for reinsurance for the projects. With the strong presence of international reinsurers, Hong Kong has the right experience and expertise to underwrite and manage risks particularly for offshore projects related to the BRI.

Hong Kong is the ideal domicile for captive insurers of Mainland companies, especially state-owned enterprises. Having a captive insurer in Hong Kong can help a Mainland group pool the risks among its subsidiaries and associates, and enjoy a concessionary profits tax rate here, thus reducing its insurance costs and improving its risk management capability.

To support Hong Kong as an international maritime centre, efforts are being made to expand the marine insurance market by creating a bigger inward reinsurance market from the Mainland and overseas and attracting new maritime insurers through regulatory and tax incentives.

The creation of an integrated economic and business hub in the GBA will support Hong Kong’s integration with the Mainland and bring about closer economic cooperation within our neighbour. The proposal for Hong Kong insurers to set up GBA service centres and the feasibility of Insurance Connect in the GBA are among the ideas being actively explored.

ILS have emerged as one of the more dynamic alternative risk-transfer instruments in the global insurance market, helping improve insurers’ risk acceptance capacity and promote the insurance industry’s long-term development. Hong Kong will work on legislative amendments to allow for the issuance of this new type of securities in the local market.