Why buy insurance in Hong Kong?

Admiralty Morgan, an insurance consultant in Hong Kong, is honored to answer your question. Hello, this is not a trap, otherwise there will not be so many people going to Hong Kong to buy insurance wave after wave. Many people are cheated because they are tired of swindlers in this industry. Therefore, you must be careful when buying insurance in Hong Kong. You must find a formal intermediary or agent. If it's no trouble, you can buy it yourself without the help of an agent.

Now mainlanders not only travel and shop in Hong Kong, but also buy insurance. Hong Kong's Sing Tao Daily recently quoted the data of the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers as saying that in 20 14, the amount of new policies issued by mainland customers in Hong Kong was 24.4 billion yuan (HKD, the same below), an increase of 2 1% year-on-year. Some people say that there are fewer mainland tourists grabbing goods from famous brand stores, and there are many long queues in front of insurance stores. Mainlanders are scattered all over the country to work and live, but they are scrambling to go to Hong Kong to buy insurance. What is the insurance charm of Hong Kong? Is it really good to go all the way to the Pearl of the Orient to insure it?

After free travel, the number of people increased.

Ms. Li, a financial consultant of Prudential Insurance Company in the UK, said that mainlanders go to Hong Kong to buy insurance, starting with free travel to Hong Kong. Since then, the number of policies has soared year by year. The market is still hot today. Even if Hong Kong cancels mainland investment immigration and Shenzhen residents go to Hong Kong once a week, it will not affect the mainland's enthusiasm for buying insurance policies in Hong Kong.

"Four years ago, the proportion of mainlanders in my clients was about 10%, and now it can account for 30%-40%. In order to better communicate with customers, my colleagues and I have begun to study Mandarin hard and often interact with mainland customers on WeChat. " Ms. Li said.

A prominent phenomenon is that in addition to a large number of white-collar workers, the rich in the mainland also favor Hong Kong insurance policies. Some insiders said that some rich people who go to Hong Kong to buy insurance, on the one hand, take a fancy to Hong Kong's cost-effective and fully functional policies. For example, businessmen usually like to buy dividend-paying life insurance with high insurance coverage; On the other hand, assets are allocated in US dollars or Hong Kong dollars. The starting point is to facilitate children to study abroad or buy homes overseas. In addition, insurance companies that put money in Hong Kong are also private.

Have advantages over mainland products.

According to industry insiders, the reason why Hong Kong insurance is so attractive lies in its long history, perfect system and service, wider insurance coverage and cheaper charges for the same amount of insurance. It is understood that at present, the total number of legal insurance companies in Hong Kong has reached 158, and there are more than 80,000 insurance intermediaries. There is a saying that "there are more insurance companies than rice shops". They provide a wide range of insurance and risk management services, and some products do have advantages over mainland products in terms of coverage and rates.

Chen Dong, who works in the financial and insurance industry of CICC Morgan Group, said that mainlanders are very concerned about three kinds of insurance when they come to Hong Kong: critical illness insurance, life insurance and savings dividend insurance.

Take the "critical illness life insurance plan" of a company in Hong Kong as an example. The plan covers 69 kinds of critical illness, of which 17 pays for the disease in advance. Ray Wu said that in Chinese mainland, critical illness insurance only covers 30-40 diseases, and most insurance products do not cover early major diseases and cancer in situ. For the same amount of insurance, the premium paid by the insured is about 30% cheaper in Hong Kong than in the Mainland. Saving dividend insurance is also a major goal for mainlanders to go to Hong Kong. Take the savings plan of an insurance company as an example. After paying the premium of $30,000, you can get a cash return of more than $654.38+200,000 after 25 years, and the expected annual rate of return is 6.35%. Comparatively speaking, the annual cash return rate of deposit insurance in the Mainland is generally around 3%.

In addition, the insurance policy in Hong Kong has no restrictions on occupation and residence area after the underwriting takes effect; Hong Kong insurance can invest in many different types of financial products and make appropriate wealth distribution and investment choices for customers. All this reveals a temptation. From the comparison between the Mainland and Hong Kong, the living environment and social credit system of Hong Kong people are more perfect than those in the Mainland, which has reduced some costs to some extent. Because the medical and health information in the mainland is opaque, there is a phenomenon of fraudulent insurance and compensation. In addition, the risks caused by air and food pollution will also be included in the cost of insurance companies in actuarial calculations, so the price of natural insurance is higher than that of Hong Kong.

Multiple risks should not be underestimated.

However, everything has advantages and disadvantages. Because the investment model, legal policies and other aspects are different from those in the mainland, mainlanders must fully realize the risks when they go to Hong Kong to buy insurance, and cannot blindly follow suit.

Mr. Xiong, a citizen of Shenzhen, bought a dividend accident insurance for East Asia Life when he went to Hong Kong on October 20-0. The monthly payment of this insurance is 1000 yuan. After five years of payment, the cash value is equal to the premium paid, and the maximum insured amount is 200,000 yuan. "Because I don't have a bank account in Hong Kong, in order to save the handling fee for cross-border transfer, I now have to go to Hong Kong to pay the fee once a month, which is quite troublesome." In addition, if you buy insurance in Hong Kong, the loss of early surrender will be great. Mr. Xiong said that a friend who insured this insurance with him chose to surrender because he was working in Beijing and found it inconvenient to pay. As a result, he only returned more than 1000, and the premium of more than 20,000 paid in two years was paid to Shui Piao.

Exchange rate risk should not be underestimated. In Hong Kong, Hong Kong dollars are used to buy insurance claims or claims, and Hong Kong dollars are directly linked to the US dollar. Once the Hong Kong dollar depreciates too much against the RMB, investors will experience cash shrinkage and investment losses.

Due to the differences in medical judgment standards between Hong Kong and the Mainland, there is a claim risk in purchasing critical illness insurance. If there is any difference in appraisal, mainland policyholders must go to Hong Kong for consultation or even go through legal procedures to hire Hong Kong lawyers. Lawyers in Hong Kong charge a high fee, and even if the insured finally wins the case, the legal fees will be a very large expense. What's more, if the final settlement dispute is difficult to identify, it will make it difficult to pay, or even unable to get compensation.

Do your homework and be careful of traps.

Because the sales of insurance policies in Hong Kong are booming, you should be careful of some traps when buying them. First of all, don't believe the "Hong Kong insurance sold in the Mainland" advertised by some institutions. Hong Kong law stipulates that all insurance contracts must be signed locally in Hong Kong, and all insurance companies adopt a very strict system of examining and witnessing entry documents for non-Hong Kong residents. Some company salesmen go to the mainland to sell, sign bills, and make the policy effective by forging entry records. This kind of insurance policy is an "underground insurance policy", which is invalid and not protected by law.

The rapid development of the market has brought mud and sand, and misleading has also spread among mainland guests who go to Hong Kong to buy insurance. The most obvious case is Hong Kong 10 1 Linked Insurance. 10 1 linked insurance is a long-term insurance product that needs to pay for 25 years, which makes some agents mislead into a short-term payment product that can pay for 3 years or even 18 months. The actual situation is that after three years of payment, the income from the policy simply can't stand the premium. Some people in the industry described it as "basically cheating money", so it has stopped selling with the intervention of relevant departments.

Some people in the insurance industry suggest that if you want to go to Hong Kong for insurance, you should carefully consult a professional and responsible insurance consultant. Second, according to the operating procedures of insurance companies in Hong Kong, we should make clear the differences before and after insurance, such as payment methods, currency differences, terminology, scope of claims and restrictions, so as not to regret it. Mr. Xiong reminded that insurance contracts in Hong Kong are in both Chinese and English, but the Chinese expression is different from that in the Mainland. We must read the contract carefully to avoid future troubles and losses.

Further reading: How to buy insurance, which is good, and teach you how to avoid these "pits" of insurance.