Establishment of the OCI

Established on 8 June 1990, the OCI is headed by the Commissioner of Insurance, who is appointed as the Insurance Authority ("IA") responsible for regulation and supervision of the insurance industry in Hong Kong. The OCI is an establishment under the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.

Organisation Structure and Staffing

The OCI comprises three divisions, namely Policy and Development Division, General Business Division and Long Term Business Division, each headed by an officer at the rank of Assistant Commissioner. Regulatory duties are assigned to 10 professional teams operating under these three divisions, each led by a Senior Insurance Officer. Furthermore, there were 29 general grade staff members as at end of December 2006 providing administrative and clerical support to 64 professional officers. An organisational chart of the OCI is shown below:

Organisation Chart

Institutional Set-up of the OCI

In line with international supervisory principles and to keep pace with rapid development of the insurance market, Government is looking into the status and institutional setup of the OCI with a view to hiving it off as an independent authority. All key stakeholders will be consulted before a final decision is taken.

Staff Training & Development

The OCI is committed to equipping its staff with updated professional knowledge and supervisory skills through a balanced mix of local and overseas training programmes. During the year, 10 officers participated in courses held in Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom and the mainland of China, sharing their experience through in-house debriefing sessions thereafter. This was complemented by local seminars, conferences, workshops and in-house guest lectures on subjects spanning across insurance, accounting & finance, actuarial science, law and management.

Furthermore, the OCI has been registered as an Authorised Employer of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants since 2005 so as to assist its staff in attaining professional membership. The OCI is also the first government office to become an Approved Continuing Professional Development Employer of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and to be awarded the status of Accredited Employer by virtue of its training and development programmes.

Financial Services Career Exhibition

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The OCI participated in the Financial Services Career Exhibition jointly organised by the Advisory Committee on Human Resources Development in the Financial Services Sector and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University by setting up a booth from 26 to 28 October 2006. This event provided an invaluable platform for students to gain first-hand knowledge about the work carried out by professional officers in the OCI as well as the requisite entry requirements.

Information Systems

To bring about better capacity of market analysis and supervision, the OCI has expanded reporting functions of the Insurance System and commissioned a study on the existing security policy as well as a detailed risk assessment on the reliability and stability of various information systems. Meanwhile, a series of training sessions are under planning to increase staff awareness of information security.

The OCI Website

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The OCI website continues to function as an effective channel to disseminate regulatory information and statistical data. In support of the Common Look and Feel approach adopted for all government websites, the OCI embarked on a project in 2005 to revamp its website for more user-friendly navigation and enriched contents. The revamped website completed in January 2006 includes additional features such as circulars, speeches, and hyperlinks to official websites of insurers authorised in Hong Kong.

5-Day Week

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Following the decision of Government to adopt a 5-day week, the OCI has ceased to operate on Saturdays with effect from 1 July 2006. The opening hours between Mondays and Fridays are correspondingly extended to run from 8:45 am to 12:45 pm and 1:45 pm to 6:00 pm, while the registers search counter service is available from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm and 2:00 pm to 5:30 pm.

24-hour Enquiry Hotline

The OCI hotline boasts a trilingual (Cantonese, Mandarin and English) interactive telephone system providing service round the clock. It is capable of supplying general information on topics including authorisation status of insurers, regulation of insurance intermediaries, IIQAS as well as complaints against insurers and insurance intermediaries. A total of 3,164 enquiries were handled through this hotline in 2006.