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Insurance Company

Insurers/Reinsurers with domicile in the Macao SAR

 

Information required

The natural persons or legal persons who intend to become an insurer/reinsurer are required to submit their application to the Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) together with the following documents:

  1. Statement, duly substantiated, on the feasibility of the plan of the formation of the insurer/reinsurer, economic and financial reasons justifying the formation of the insurer/reinsurer, which demonstrates the respective viability and the possibility of incorporating its activity in the objectives of the economic and financial policy of the Macao SAR
  2. The name of the company, in at least two official languages of the Macao SAR, must suggest its sole scope of business in the insurance sector
  3. Draft of the Articles of Association, drawn up in accordance with current legal and regulatory provisions
  4. Personal and professional identification documents of the founding shareholders indicating their respective share in the capital and a well-founded memorandum on the suitability of the shareholding structure for the stability of the insurer/reinsurer;
  5. Documents containing the personal identity and professional information of members of administrative and supervisory board, as well as that of the persons who effectively manage the insurer/reinsurer, which set out the basis for possessing integrity, qualifications and professional experience suitable for the relevant position of the insurer/reinsurer
  6. Criminal Record Certificate of the founding shareholders with qualifying holdings, issued within less than 90 days
  7. Declaration, under oath, by the founding shareholders with qualifying holdings certifying that at no time neither they nor any of the companies/firms under their control or of which they were administrators, directors or managers, as the case may be, were declared insolvent or bankrupt
  8. Details of source of funds, material, technical and human resources to be utilised;
  9. Indication of the general conditions and the technical basis of the insurance policies within the scope of insurance business the applicant intends to engage in;
  10. Description of the risk management and internal control regime, and mechanisms for preventing and combating money laundering and terrorist financing;
  11. If the insurer/reinsurer affiliates to a group, it must submit the organisational chart of the group to which it belongs, and disclose all major entities in the group, including other insurers/reinsurers and non-regulated entities, as well as the relationships among all major entities within the group.

 

Business Plan

The application shall also outline the business plan and financial plan for the first three years which shall contain, but not limited to, the following information:

  1. Corporate governance policies, information technology systems, co-operation plans with related companies and arrangements for outsourcing services
  2. Reinsurance programme, detailing the business strategy to be adopted in respect of reinsurance (including inward and outward reinsurance)
  3. Estimation of founding expenses and initial costs, particularly those relating to the administrative and commercial aspects of the business
  4. Details of investment projects
  5. Solvency margin
  6. Sale methods and channels to be adopted
  7. Number of employees, by company organisational structure, and salaries by sections.

 

The founding shareholders are legal persons

When the founding shareholders are legal persons with qualifying holdings, the following information of each legal person is required:

  1. Articles of Association
  2. Audited financial statements and accounts for the last three fiscal years
  3. Identification information and biographical details of the members of the administrative bodies
  4. Composition of share capital and a list of shareholders with 10% or more of the said capital
  5. List of other company(-ies) of which the legal person has a qualifying holdings, and the structure of the group(s) the company(-ies).

 

Supplementary information

In addition to the above information, AMCM may request the applicant to submit supplementary information and documents that are considered necessary to complete the application process.

 

Remarks:

  1. The capital shall not be less than MOP 30 million for insurers providing general insurance; and the minimum capital for insurers providing life insurance is MOP 60 million.
  2. The capital shall not be less than MOP 100 million for reinsurers providing non-life business; and the minimum capital for reinsurers providing life insurance is MOP 150 million.

 

Fees

Application fee for authorisation: Free of charge

Supervisory fee: Insurers and reinsurers authorised to carry out insurance activities in the Macao SAR are subject to the payment of an annual supervisory fee calculated according to the scale of their business, with the lower cap at MOP 30,000 and the higher cap at MOP 1 million. The calculation of the supervisory fee shall be fixed by the AMCM by notice on the Official Gazette, and the fee for the preceding year is collected in June every year.

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Handlin department: AMCM