Insurance Professions

Insurance is a vital pillar of Hong Kong's economy, recorded a gross premiums of HK$489.2 billion in 2017. The industry, however, is suffering from a longstanding problem of talent shortage.

Indeed, insurance is highly professional and the demand for both the frontline and back office practitioners with technical savvy is extremely high. Through providing this recruitment platform with information on career in insurance, we hope to provide the community, in particular students, a fuller picture of the nature and career prospects of different jobs in the insurance industry, and to nurture talents for various realms in the back office as well as enhance the professional standard of the practitioners.

Insurance Types

In general, insurance can be classified into Long Term (Life) Insurance and General (Non-life) Insurance. They cover different types of insurance and provide corresponding protection to the policyholders. You may refer to the chart below for illustration on the insurance types.

Insurance Industry in Hong Kong

Currently, there are more than 160 authorized insurance companies in Hong Kong classifying into:

Long Term (Life) Insurance Companies
General (Non-life) Insurance Companies
Composite Insurance Companies

In addition, there are other market players supporting different functions of the insurance industry, including:

Insurance Brokers
Persons or firms, independent of any insurance company, who/which represent the interests of the buyers in searching for insurance coverage at the lowest cost and providing the highest benefit to the buyers.
Insurance Agencies/ Agents
Persons or firms, who/which represent the insurance companies, to sell insurance policies on the companies' behalf.
Reinsurance Companies
Companies that provide financial protection to insurance companies and insure again especially by transferring all or part of the risks in a contract to a new contract with the insurance companies.

Insurance Professions

Apart from sales positions, i.e. insurance agents, there are many other non-sales positions at the back-office of insurance companies. Four common non-sales professions are introduced as below.

Underwriter

Underwriters are responsible for the evaluation of risks involved with respective coverage item(s) by an objective analysis upon an insurance coverage request or insurance application, and subsequently determining the premium amount and insurance policy provisions.

On Life and Health insurance field, the main job duty of underwriters is to review health condition and medical history of the applicants. In turn, underwriters determine the right level of risk (standard / sub-standard) and the corresponding conditions and exclusions. Underwriters also need to work closely with product actuaries and product development teams.

On Property and Casualty field, underwriters evaluate the risk level of the insurance request against his/her acceptance appetite. For larger cases, underwriters may need to arrange further reinsurance protection for the company. If necessary, underwriters may further need to conduct site visits and inspections, and to communicate with clients and insurance intermediaries for explaining the provisions and details of the insurance policy.

General Requirements

Bachelor degree holders
Continuous self-equipping and insights into business operations across different industries with attention to details
Enjoy learning and encountering new experiences
Interested in current affairs and economic trends
Possess good communication skills

Claims Handler

Claims handler duty involves collecting comprehensive data to process insurance claims applications. They have to communicate with clients, notaries and even hospitals, police stations, courts and governmental departments, in order to analyse and process different claims applications. They determine benefit amounts with responsibility to prevent fraudulent in making claims. Claims handler is exposed to a wide range of claim cases like life insurance, automobile, accident, and home & property.

General Requirements

Bachelor degree holders
Detailed-minded with a meticulous and unbiased approach to work
Interested in learning and encountering new experiences
Attention to relevant legal provisions and amendments

Risk Manager

The key responsibility of risk manager is to evaluate the environmental risk, for instance, to investigate clients’ insured items such as shops, buildings and staff, and to ensure that policyholders can clearly understand the potential risks and reduce loss via preventive measures. They have to provide advice to underwriters on the acceptance of insurance applications, and to shift risks to insurance companies or third parties.

General Requirements

Bachelor degree holders
Familiar with quantitative analysis with ability to complete tasks within a tight schedule
Possess other skills such as analysis of financial statements and project management capability

Actuary

An actuary has to utilise a wide spectrum of knowledge including mathematics, economics, finance and statistics for assisting the insurance company on product risk evaluation and enacting respective strategies to minimise the cost of risks. Other duties include calculation of premiums and reserves for bearing insurance responsibilities, and design of new products (i.e. different insurance plans) based on large-volume data analysis.

General Requirements

Bachelor degree holders
Possess curious and proactive personalities, since insurance is closely related to daily life
With international recognition by passing qualification examinations in North America, the UK, Scotland or Australia.

(Source: https://www.instalent.org.hk/en/content/career-development ; https://occupation-dictionary.vtc.edu.hk ; www.hays.com.hk)

Career Path

Remarks: The above is applicable to Bachelor Degree holders of various professions such as underwriter, claims, risk management, actuary, etc. in general.