Insurance Ordinance

(1)
Without prejudice to the Companies Ordinance (
Cap. 622
) and the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (
Cap. 32
), every authorized insurer shall cause to be kept proper books of account which may be kept either in a legible form or in a non-legible form capable of being reproduced in a legible form; but where any such books are kept otherwise than by making entries in a bound book, adequate precautions shall be taken for guarding against falsification and facilitating its discovery.
(Amended
28 of 2012 ss. 912
& 920;
12 of 2015 s. 36
)
(2)
Proper books of account, for the purposes of this section, are books of account which (in themselves or, if kept under subsection (1) otherwise than in a legible form, as reproduced in a legible form) sufficiently exhibit and explain all transactions entered into by the insurer in the course of any business carried on by the insurer.
(3)
If any books of account required to be kept by this section are kept by an authorized insurer by recording the matters in question otherwise than in a legible form, any power conferred by this Ordinance to require production of such books or to take copies thereof or extracts therefrom shall be construed as including power to require production of, and to take away, a reproduction of the recording or of the relevant part of it in a legible form.
(Amended
12 of 2015 s. 36
)
(4)
Any books of account required to be kept by this section shall be preserved by the insurer for 7 years from the end of the financial year to which the last entry made or matter recorded therein relates.
(5)
The Authority may, by serving a notice in writing on an authorized insurer, require the insurer to provide to the Authority, within the period specified in the notice, any books of account
that—
(a)
are required to be kept by this section; and
(b)
are required by the Authority for performing its functions.
(Added
12 of 2015 s. 36
)
(6)
An authorized insurer served with the notice which, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with it commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 5.
(Added
12 of 2015 s. 36
)