Year 2007 - Critical Success Factors

What are the critical success factors for Hong Kong Insurance Intermediaries and if CEPA 4 a panacea for them As a user of insurance products in Hong Kong, I always have high regard to the service quality and standard of the industry. Business in this sector is extremely competitive and in order to stand out among competitors, insurance intermediaries must possess many attributes, in addition to dedication and strong self motivation, other success factors include solid up to date product and market knowledge, dedicated customer service culture, professionalism and integrity. Up to date thorough knowledge of insurance products and the Hong Kong and global insurance markets is a basic but crucial success factor. Insurance intermediaries having passed the Insurance Intermediaries Quality Assurance Scheme examinations already possess the basic insurance concepts, knowledge and skills. However, with the ever changing world where new products and services are continuously being developed and launched in the market, it is important that insurance intermediaries keep abreast of such information in order to recommend the best products and services to suit individual customer needs. Dedicated customer service is another critical success factor. Clients appreciate dedicated service including after sales and claims services to be delivered with a caring attitude. It is through such relationship building that insurance intermediaries can obtain a better picture of client needs so as to identify and offer appropriate products and services. A long term stable client base is critical to the continued growth and success of an insurance intermediary and the secret to building long term customer relationship is trust which can be built through professional delivery of products and services with integrity. Ethical practices will not only solidify existing client relationships but also provide word of mouth referrals to build a strong network for future business. The above noted critical success factors of an insurance intermediary should be applicable in all markets with local language and culture adaptation. Hong Kong insurance intermediaries with such attributes should fare well in their Mainland endeavours given time to adapt to Mainland culture and language. The Supplement IV to the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (“CEPA 4”) covers two main elements: To permit the setting up of an examination centre inHong Kong for theMainland qualifying examinations for insurance intermediaries To allow Hong Kong insurance agency companies to set up wholly-owned enterprises in the Mainland to provide insurance agency services to the Mainland insurance companies The first element will provide the convenience for Hong Kong insurance intermediaries to write the Mainland license examination in Hong Kong and facilitates the first step for Hong Kong insurance intermediaries to enter into Mainland practice. The second element allows Hong Kong insurance agency companies to enter into the immense Mainland insurance market. This will provide a pathway for Hong Kong insurance intermediaries to enter the vast Mainland market, however, as previously mentioned, while Hong Kong insurance intermediaries may possess the critical success factors, they will need to become proficient in the local language, adapt to and understand local cultural before they can develop and built the necessary network and relationships for a successful business. Dr. Ng Tat Lun , BBS, JP. Duputy Chairman, Council & Court Secretariat of Hong Kong Polytechnic University NgTat Lun , a retiree after serving a multi-national manufacturing firm for over 40 years, still enjoys the community service in vocational education, research and development and employee training and retraining. By profession Mr. Ng is an engineer but his knowledge and interest extends broadly to cover business management, language, law, social science and Buddhism. His experience is local, national and international. 14 Feature