NewChinese visitors snap up Hong Kong insurance policies to diversify risks amid China’s economic, stock market woes
Stocks rout and yuan depreciation prompt mainlanders to take out policies in the city in attempt to diversify their investment
More Chinese people are buying Hong Kong insurance policies as they seek to diversify risks in their investments following China’s stock market rout and yuan depreciation amid the country’s slowing economy.
“Buying insurance plans [in Hong Kong] helps in risk diversification [for mainlanders],” a Shenzhen woman, surnamed Zeng, told the South China Morning Post as she left an insurance firm in Tsim Sha Tsui on Monday.
Zeng said she started looking into Hong Kong insurance policies after China’s stock market turbulence this summer.
“Many of my friends have also come here (Hong Kong) to buy insurance plans after the market slump on the mainland,” Zeng said, adding that she bought policies for herself and her eight-year-old child.
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The policies she bought – life insurance and saving plans for herself and education insurance for her child – were all denominated in US dollars as she believed the currency was safer and would generate higher returns.