25 August 2020
When the Insurance Authority took over the direct supervision and regulation of insurance intermediaries on 23 September 2019, all insurance agents, their responsible officers (“ROs”) and their technical representatives (“TRs”) registered with the Insurance Agents Registration Board immediately prior to that date, and all insurance broker companies, their chief executives (now responsible officers (“ROs”)) and their technical representatives (“TRs”) registered with either the Hong Kong Confederation of Insurance Brokers (“CIB”) or the Professional Insurance Brokers Association (“PIBA”), were automatically granted a licence under the new regime for 3-years. In this circular, these insurance agents are referred to as “deemed licensees”. Each deemed licensee has a licence which runs from 23 September 2019 to 22 September 2022 (“transitional period”). During this transitional period, every deemed licensee needs to apply for a new licence from the IA if they wish to continue to be a licensed insurance agent. Given the large number of deemed licensees, these applications need to be staggered throughout the transitional period to enable all applications to be processed prior to 22 September 2022. This circular outlines the intended application process and the IA’s proposed next steps for commencing the project.