ENG-2009 — Page 133

Financial and Monetary Affairs | 85

repurchase Lehman Minibonds from eligible clients in full. This set the stage for resolution with other Lehman Minibond distributors. In July, the HKMA and SFC struck an agreement with 16 distributing banks to repurchase from about 25 000 eligible clients the Lehman Minibonds at 60 per cent or 70 per cent of their original investment value, with the higher percentage going to those 65 and older.

In the area of investor education, a number of initiatives were launched using the theme 'Be Smart, Ask First'. For the first time, a year-long, multi-media advertising campaign was conducted. This was kicked off by TV and radio commercials featuring a catchy remake of a Canto-pop song 'Ask Me'. It involved a series of initiatives, including a photo competition, a financial knowledge competition and an investment story competition, as well as outreach activities such as university courses and talks to the elderly and young people.

In addition to its investor education website, the SFC continued its use of the mass media and interactive approaches to disseminate its investor educational messages. During the year, TV, radio, videos on buses, free newspapers, notices on public transport, and poster displays at MTR stations and bus shelters were used to convey educational messages to the community. A TV game show and an 'infommercial' series broadcast highlighting investment knowledge, an understanding of risks and proper investment attitudes.

Insurance Sector

Main Features

At year-end, there were 171 authorised insurers, 89 of which were incorporated in Hong Kong while the remaining 82 were incorporated in the Mainland and in 20 overseas countries, with Bermuda taking the lead.

During the past five years, the Hong Kong insurance industry achieved an average annual growth of 8.9 per cent. The total gross premiums of the insurance industry reached $185.7* billion in 2009, representing a 1.6 per cent decrease over 2008.

Gross premiums of the general insurance sector increased by 7.1 per cent to $28.6 billion in 2009.

The increase was primarily boosted by accident and health business (comprising medical business). On the other hand, overall underwriting profit of general insurance business grew from a profit of $1.3 billion to $2.2 billion in 2009, attributable to improvement in claims experience.

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The total revenue premiums of long-term insurance business dropped 3 per cent to $157.1 billion in 2009. The individual life business remained dominant with the premiums in force of $128.8* billion, accounting for 82 per cent of the total revenue premiums. The number of individual life policies in force grew by 5.3 per cent to 8.6* million in 2009.

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Provisional statistics