In order to further strengthen the collaboration between the reinsurance and insurance sections and jointly cope with market changes as well as risk challenges, TPRe held the 2022 Insurance Market Seminar on "Manage Your Risks, Enjoy Taiping Service" in Hong Kong on 26 October. More than 100 guests from the Insurance Authority of Hong Kong ("IA"), the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers, the Monetary Authority of Macau as well as 44 insurance companies from Hong Kong and Macau attended the seminar in-person or virtually.

Mr Simon Lam, Executive Director (General Business) of IA, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. He said that in the first half of 2022, the gross premiums written of the direct and reinsurance sectors of the general insurance market recorded a modest growth and the underwriting profitability also improved. However, due to deteriorating economic environment, financial market volatility, increasing nat cat losses and geopolitical tensions, the insurance industry needs to be prepared to face up to pressure on premium growth and operational challenges during the second half of the year. To maintain stability in underwriting performance, it is imperative for (re)insurance companies to maintain a high sense of crisis and urgency and strengthen corporate governance to maintain underwriting discipline and proper pricing. The Own Risk Solvency-Assessment (ORSA) regime has been launched since 2020 and the ORSA report is a good basis for (re)insurers to monitor on a dynamic basis their risk and capital management position as well as the business strategies against a volatile operating environment.  The IA looks forward to working with the insurance industry to overcome the challenges.

Regarding the future development of the insurance industry, Mr Lam stated that the mainland government has reaffirmed the unique position of Hong Kong in China’s national strategies development. The government, the regulators and the insurance industry have a common goal to promote Hong Kong as the hub of the Greater Bay Area development, a risk management center and captive domicile and the setting up of cross-border insurance services center. This will help to realize the important goal of cross-border collaboration.

Mr Zhang Ruohan, CEO of TPRe, delivered an opening speech. He said that the current insurance market is facing many uncertainties. In addition, IFRS 17 and IFRS 9, as well as Hong Kong RBC regime are about to be implemented. Therefore, insurance companies need to operate prudently and adequately in capital management, asset liability management, underwriting policy and risk diversification management. Facing the new situation and market changes, TPRe will always adhere to the "customer-centric" operation principle, continue to further develop the Hong Kong and Macau markets, strengthen the advantages of international and cross-border comprehensive operation, so as to help our clients in Hong Kong and Macau to develop business in mainland and overseas markets. At the same time, we will continuously improve technical and operational management capabilities, strengthen risk management and cooperate with our clients to seize new opportunities, resist new risks and create a new future together.

Ms Polly Ho, General Manager of TPRe, shared her thoughts on Hong Kong and Macau (re)insurance market. She said that reinsurance companies and insurance companies are important partnerships. In the face of many challenges in the market environment, TPRe hopes to share risks and achieve win-win cooperation with our clients.

Mr Yin Hang, Deputy General Manager of TPRe, introduced the updates of the international (re)insurance market, including capacity changes for property reinsurance market, rate changes and cat losses, renewal outlook 2023, as well as a brief introduction on secondary perils.

Mr Michael Fung, Head of Risk Analytics of TPRe, shared how to build resilience in a high inflation and climate risk world, including the impact of inflation on the insurance industry and how to estimate nat cat losses through cat modelling.