The Zhitong Finance App learned that the Hong Kong Insurance Authority released provisional statistics for the first half of 2026. The total gross premiums of the Hong Kong insurance industry during this period reached HK$573.6 billion, an increase of 35.5% year-on-year. Among them, premiums for new insurance policies for long-term businesses (excluding retirement plan business) reached HK$275.2 billion, an increase of 58.4% year-on-year.
Of the premiums for new insurance policies, unlinked personal business premiums were HK$262.9 billion, an increase of 57.8% year-on-year; of these, dividend business premiums reached HK$245.4 billion, an increase of 63.7%, while premiums for other businesses were HK$17.5 billion, an increase of 4.9%. Linked personal business premiums amounted to HK$12 billion, an increase of 73.7% year-on-year.
During the period, insurance companies issued about 33,000 eligible deferred annuity policies, involving premiums of HK$2.1 billion, accounting for 0.8% of the total premiums of new insurance policies created for personal businesses.
In the first half of the year, total premium income from long-term active businesses reached HK$509.9 billion, an increase of 39.7% year-on-year. Among them, unlinked personal business premiums were HK$465.8 billion, an increase of 44.8%; linked personal business premiums were HK$17.8 billion, an increase of 40%; and retirement plan business premiums were HK$22.2 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 16.7%.
On the general business side, gross premiums in the first half of the year reached HK$63.7 billion, an increase of 9.1% year-on-year. By business category, the gross premium for direct onshore operations was HK$28.6 billion, an increase of 2%; direct offshore operations were HK$3 billion, up 13.1%; onshore operations split into reinsurance were HK$4.5 billion, up 2.4%; and the offshore business split into reinsurance was HK$27.5 billion, an increase of 18.4%.
During the period, net premiums for general business were HK$42.1 billion, an increase of 5.7% year-on-year; the total gross amount of claims paid was HK$31.3 billion, an increase of 22.2%. Overall operating profit reached HK$9.6 billion, up 48.1% year-on-year, of which underwriting profit was HK$5.8 billion, a significant increase of 253.1%.