Hong Kong is seeing an influx of professionals from mainland China’s finance and tech sectors who are disillusioned with their career and salary prospects across the border. Many are trying to make a living and stay in the city by peddling insurance products, giving a boost to a once-sleepy industry.
Insurers and agents at AIA Group Ltd., Prudential Plc and other financial firms in Hong Kong are recruiting more Chinese citizens to sell insurance plans to visitors from the mainland. That business, which has drawn regulatory scrutiny in the past, is booming again after slumping during the coronavirus pandemic.
Chinese tourists have collectively poured more than HK$75 billion ($9.6 billion) into insurance policies in Hong Kong since the start of 2023, after authorities lifted strict border controls that were in place for much of the pandemic. That’s in spite of a recent crackdown by the city’s regulators on corrupt practices and unlicensed selling of the products.
Most of the policies bought by tourists are denominated in US dollars or Hong Kong’s currency — which is pegged