Money Notes

AMERICAN International Assurance has introduced a non-participating modified endowment plan aimed exclusively at Hongkong civil servants.

Known as Civil Servant Life and aimed at civil servants aged 16 to 55, the product allows the consumer to choose the amount of coverage and payable premium as well as the currency for benefit payment.

The plan comes in three forms, with maturity at 55, 60, and 65.

LESS than 25 per cent of small businesses in Hongkong have employee benefit insurance, according to CIGNA Worldwide Insurance.

Regional vice-president and general manager Paul Hartley said surveys done by CIGNA indicated that while about 85 per cent of medium to large companies offered benefit programmes, small companies showed a reluctance to take up this insurance on behalf oftheir employees.

Mr Hartley attributed the low penetration level to a historical reluctance among small companies to invest in long-term employee benefit schemes and the insurance industry's failure to adequately target the small-business sector.