Court orders winding up of Target Insurance Company Limited
26 September 2022
The High Court today (26 September 2022) ordered Target Insurance Company Limited (Target) be wound up under the provisions of the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (Cap. 32) and that Mr Derek Lai and Mr Forrest Kam of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu be appointed as the Joint and Several Liquidators (the Liquidators) of Target.
The winding-up petition was presented on 15 July 20221 by Target under the direction of Mr Lai and Mr Kam, who were appointed by the Insurance Authority (IA) as the Joint and Several Managers (the Managers) to take full control of the affairs, business and property of Target from 7 January 2022. Upon the appointment of Mr Lai and Mr Kam as the Liquidators of Target, their appointment as the Managers has then ceased on the same date. The IA welcomes the appointment of Mr Lai and Mr Kam as the Liquidators of Target, which will enable a seamless transition on the operation of Target with the view to protecting policy holders and minimising any impact to the insurance market resulting from the winding-up of Target.
All the in-force policies issued by Target are unaffected by the winding-up order and policy holders may continue to submit their claims to Target in the usual manner. The Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Hong Kong (MIB) and the Employees Compensation Insurer Insolvency Bureau (ECIIB) will continue to process claims arising from third party motor policies and employees’ compensation policies respectively (estimated to be approximately 94% of the insurance liabilities borne by Target) under the respective insolvency fund schemes. As for valid claims under the remaining policies (estimated to be approximately 6% of the insurance liabilities borne by Target), the Liquidators will handle them as permitted under the relevant laws. According to the Liquidators’ assessment, the statutory deposit of HK$250 million placed in trust with the IA for Target, together with the estimated realisable assets of Target, should be adequate to settle these claims.
For any enquiries, policy holders and other creditors of Target may contact the following parties:
| General enquiries about the policies issued by Target and related claims | Target |
2926-2926 (9 a.m. to 12 noon and 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., Mondays to Fridays except public holidays) |
| Enquiries for the Liquidators | Liquidators |
2238-7826 (9 a.m. to 12 noon and 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., Mondays to Fridays except public holidays) |
|
Enquiries about third-party motor claims |
MIB |
2949-3926 (9 a.m. to 12 noon and 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., Mondays to Fridays except public holidays) |
|
Enquiries about employees’ compensation claims |
ECIIB | |
| Enquiries about migration of taxi policies and public light bus policies via the Central Distribution System | IA |
3899-9846 [email protected] (8:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. and 1:45 p.m. to 6 p.m., Mondays to Fridays except public holidays) |
Ends
Note:
1For details please refer to the IA’s press releases issued on 7 January 2022 and 15 July 2022.