RGA's Maurizio Busti tells Asia Insurance Review that despite economic and medical cost challenges, Hong Kong’s insurance market in 2026 is poised for strong growth, driven by cross-border demand, regulatory transformation, and digital innovation.
Hong Kong's insurance landscape in 2026 presents a complex yet promising picture, writes Maurizio Busti, RGA Managing Director, Head of Hong Kong & Singapore Markets, in this article for Asia Insurance Review.
Despite moderate economic growth and external headwinds from global trade tensions and slower mainland recovery, the insurance market demonstrates remarkable resilience, with total new business premium growing by an impressive 21% in 20241 and continued strong growth momentum in the first half of 2025.
The sector's growth is fueled by aging demographics, robust cross-border demand, and increasing wealth management needs. Cross-border business continues to be a significant growth engine, contributing 30% of total new business premium in 2024i. This substantial contribution underscores Hong Kong's position as a regional insurance hub, particularly for mainland Chinese buyers seeking stable investment returns and comprehensive protection benefits.
Mainland Chinese purchasing patterns reveal strategic preferences: approximately 60% of new business premium from mainland buyers was allocated to whole-of-life savings products with life protection, while 30% went to participating critical illness products1. This distribution demonstrates that cross-border purchases are driven by both investment diversification and comprehensive coverage considerations.
Health insurance faces mounting pressure from rising medical costs, with Hong Kong's medical inflation rate reaching approximately 10% in recent years according to Mercer— significantly outpacing the territory's general inflation rate of just 1-2% during the same period. This significant difference creates substantial challenges for insurers in pricing and product design.
Several factors drive this medical inflation surge such as rising costs of new medical technologies and advanced treatments, pharmaceutical price increases, aging population and overuse of medical care.
These trends create both challenges and opportunities for insurers to innovate their product offerings and pricing strategies, particularly in developing more sophisticated risk assessment and management approaches.
The recent full implementation of the Hong Kong Risk-Based Capital (HKRBC) framework marks 2026 as a pivotal year. This regulatory evolution aligns Hong Kong with global standards, pushing for greater transparency and capital adequacy that will affect product design and capital strategies.
Insurers are increasingly seeking strategic partnerships to navigate these regulatory requirements effectively. For example, reinsurers like RGA can serve as strategic partners rather than pure advisors, focusing on execution-based solutions that take on actual risks through asset-intensive transactions and bespoke risk-transfer structures. This approach contrasts with traditional consulting models that often focus on compliance modeling without execution capability, offering scalable transactions and balance sheet optimization that deliver long-term capital efficiency beyond short-term compliance.
Digital transformation adds another layer of complexity, pressuring insurers to modernize operations and leverage artificial intelligence for underwriting and customer engagement. AI-powered solutions are creating significant operational improvements.
For example, RGA’s MedScreen+, launched with Prudential Hong Kong, is a breakthrough technology that reduces medical report assessment time by 30-50% — a critical time-saving measure in a market processing millions of health checks annually. These types of efficiencies provide agents and customers with more transparent processes and greater certainty of application outcomes, ultimately creating opportunities for agents to build trust and stronger customer relationships.
The market is seeing a clear divergence between high-net-worth (HNW) and mass market segments, each requiring distinct strategies:
Wealth preservation and estate planning through legacy planning, trusts, and tax-efficient structures
High coverage and customization with large sum assured, bespoke policies, and multi-currency options
Global access through international medical coverage and offshore investment-linked products
Risk diversification using universal life, whole life, and high-value investment-linked plans
Affordability and core protection through term life, critical illness, and hospitalization plans
Savings-oriented products including endowment and simple investment-linked products for education or retirement
Local coverage primarily focused on domestic medical and life protection
Standardized products with limited customization and focus on cost efficiency
As Hong Kong's insurance market navigates 2026's challenges and opportunities, success will depend on embracing innovation, regulatory compliance, and customer-centric solutions. Sustainability and health cost management emerge as critical differentiators, while technology and data analytics become essential competitive advantages.
AI-driven underwriting, predictive analytics, and digital distribution channels will separate market leaders from followers in this rapidly evolving landscape. The ability to serve both sophisticated HNW clients seeking complex wealth management solutions and cost-conscious mass market customers requiring standardized protection will define competitive positioning.
Strategic partnerships with experienced reinsurers prove invaluable in this environment, offering the execution capabilities, risk management expertise, and capital optimization solutions necessary to thrive in Hong Kong's dynamic insurance market.
RGA provides expert guidance in responding to market challenges across Asia Pacific. We look forward to working with you to discuss your options and considerations in more detail. Contact us.
