The eleventh edition of Hong Kong Insurance Authority's (IA) publication CONDUCT published in September 2025 has revealed the major findings from the three-month mystery shopping exercise on insurance-related roadshow activities conducted by the IA's Enforcement Division earlier this year.
The 25-page Demystifying the IA’s Mystery Shopping report underscores the need for insurers to establish robust control and governance frameworks for such activities, with good practices recommended by the IA to support industry improvement.
The report said, “One of the underlying lessons to emerge from this exercise is that, when it comes to roadshows, first impressions count.
“Principals and intermediaries should focus on how their conduct is perceived by the potential customers with whom they have dealings. There is no better way to create the right first impression, than by being professional and ethical in substance from the outset and in everything you do.”
It said reinforcement of true professional and ethical conduct through principals establishing effective governance and compliance mechanisms to monitor the roadshow activities, is equally important.
The report also presents the latest complaints statistics and offers insurance practitioners and policy holders latest regulatory insights and conduct-related observations. While complaints see a year-on-year increase in the first half of 2025, a broader five-year view shows a downward trend compared to pre-pandemic levels. This indicates that even as insurance market returns to baseline conditions, a structural trend of improvement continues to shape the industry.
Further, in light of the widespread use of digitised sales system for generating policy recommendations and submitting applications, the IA has incorporated system assessment into its conduct inspection. A special supplement is prepared to share observations on common shortcomings in system design and implementation, along with suggested areas of improvements.
Other topics covered in this edition include regulatory considerations concerning the growing interest in insurance agencies specialising in run-off portfolios management; the importance of broker disclosure regarding risks and limitations when sourcing offshore insurance products for clients; and the implication of the recent cessation of MPF-related telemarketing on cold-calling practices in the insurance industry.