Hong Kong insurers look for cover after new financial regulations come into force

New controls on capital movement are set to make it harder for mainlanders to purchase new policies in the city, which could sound alarm bells for the booming market. Wang Yanfei reports.

In recent years, customers from the mainland have been flocking to Hong Kong to buy insurance products, making the city one of the world's leading insurance markets.

Now, though, many insurance agents are concerned that new capital controls could threaten the market's continued prosperity. Last week, the central government tightened the regulations that govern how mainland citizens buy insurance products in Hong Kong. The move came just a month after the nation's currency regulator capped payments made through UnionPay, the mainland's dominant payment system, at $5,000 per transaction.