relative file path for layout
Skip to main content  Skip to search  Skip to main menu
Trade and Industry Department The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Brand Hong Kong - Asia world city
MY COLOUR

Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA)

Insurance Services

Liberalisation Measures under CEPA

The Agreement on Trade in Services covers and consolidates commitments relating to liberalisation of trade in services provided in CEPA and its Supplements and also the Agreement between the Mainland and Hong Kong on Achieving Basic Liberalisation of Trade in Services in Guangdong.

Agreement on Trade in Services
Liberalisation Measures under Cross-border Services (Positive List)
Sectors or
Sub-sectors
  • 7. Financial services
    • A. All insurance and insurance-related services (CPC812)
      • a. Life, accident and health insurance services (CPC8121)
      • b. Non-life insurance services (CPC8129)
      • c. Reinsurance and retrocession (CPC81299)
      • d. Services auxiliary to insurance (including broking and agency services, consultancy services, actuarial services) (CPC8140)
Specific
commitments
  1. To allow Hong Kong residents with Chinese citizenship, after obtaining the Mainland's professional qualifications in actuarial science, to practise in the Mainland without prior approval.
  2. To allow Hong Kong residents, after obtaining the Mainland's insurance practitioners' qualifications and being employed or appointed by a Mainland insurance institution, to engage in the relevant insurance business.
  3. To permit the setting up of an examination centre in Hong Kong for the Mainland qualifying examinations for insurance intermediaries.
  4. To encourage Mainland insurance companies to cede their business to Hong Kong insurance or reinsurance companies with RMB as the settlement currency.
  5. On the basis of regulatory equivalence, to apply more relaxed requirements of credit risk for Mainland insurance companies ceding reinsurance businesses to qualified Hong Kong insurers and continue to consider taking forward other preferential policies under equivalence.
  6. To encourage Hong Kong insurance companies to continue expanding the scale of their outward reinsurance business placements to the Mainland reinsurance companies.
  7. To allow Guangdong insurance companies that fulfil regulatory requirements to entrust Hong Kong insurance companies to develop RMB insurance policies selling services in Hong Kong.  These insurance companies must strictly follow the requirements of relevant insurance laws, regulations and codes, and their businesses being carried on in a regulated manner with a view to enhancing mutual development of insurance markets.
  8. To relax requirements for Mainland insurance companies or large corporates setting up special purpose insurers (SPI) in Hong Kong via intermediary companies for the purpose of issuing catastrophe bonds, such as restriction on rating, capital and solvency criteria, and support Mainland insurance companies with wilful intention to issue catastrophe bonds in the Hong Kong market.
Reserved Restrictive Measures under Commercial Presence (Negative List)
Sector
 7. Financial Services
Sub-sector
  • A. All insurance and insurance-related services (CPC812)
    • a. Life, accident and health insurance services (CPC8121)
    • b. Non-life insurance services (CPC8129)
    • c. Reinsurance and retrocession (CPC81299)
    • d. Services auxiliary to insurance (including broking and agency services, consultancy services, actuarial services) (CPC8140)
Obligations concerned National Treatment
Reserved Restrictive
Measures		 Commercial Presence
  1. Hong Kong insurance companies and their groups formed through re-grouping or strategic mergers which enter the Mainland insurance market must fulfil the following criteria:
    1) Total assets held by the group of over US$5 billion;
    2) The place of their domicile is having a robust insurance regulatory system; and the insurance companies are under effective supervision by the relevant authority where the insurance companies are domiciled;
    3) Having met the solvency margin standard of the place where they are domiciled;
    4) Their application has had the agreement of the relevant authority of the place where they are domiciled;
    5) Reasonable corporate governance; and stable risk management system;
    6) Healthy internal control system; and effective information management system; and
    7) Good operating condition; and having no record of significant violation of laws and regulations.
  2. Foreign financial institutions which invest in shares of insurance companies must fulfil the following criteria:
    1) A good and stable financial condition with continuous profit making record for the recent three consecutive accounting years;
    2) The total assets as at the end of the most recent year shall be not less than US$2 billion;
    3) Having long term credit rating of A or above given by international credit agencies in the recent three years;
    4) Having no records of significant violation of laws and regulations for the recent three years;
    5) Having fulfilled the requirements of prudential supervision standards of the financial regulators where they are domiciled.
  3. An insurance company which carries on life insurance business in the Mainland and is jointly established by foreign insurance companies and Mainland domestic companies and/or enterprises (hereinafter called "jointly-owned life insurance company") shall have no more than 51%1 of its total share capital coming from foreign source. Foreign insurance companies having shares in the jointly-owned life insurance company, directly or otherwise, whose proportion of share capital shall not exceed the limit as aforesaid.
  4. Hong Kong insurance agency companies setting up wholly-owned insurance agency companies in the Mainland to provide insurance agency services for the Mainland insurance companies must fulfil the following criteria:
    1) The applicant must be a Hong Kong insurance agency enterprise;
    2) Having been operating insurance agency business for over 3 years.
  5. Hong Kong insurance brokerage companies setting up wholly-owned insurance agency companies in the Mainland must fulfil the following criteria:
    1) The applicant shall have been operating insurance brokerage business in Hong Kong for over 10 years;
    2) The applicant's average annual insurance brokerage business revenue for the past 3 years before application shall not be less than HK$500,000 and the total assets as at the end of the year before application shall not be less than HK$500,000; and
    3) Within 3 years before application, there has been no serious violation of regulations and records of disciplinary action.
  6. Except otherwise approved by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, Hong Kong insurance companies are not allowed to carry out the purchase or sale of assets or other transactions with their related enterprises.

1 The actual time in 2020 to remove the restriction on foreign shareholding percentage is subject to the Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission's announcement.

For details about financial cooperation under the Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation (Ecotech Agreement), please refer to the Ecotech Agreement.