Hong Kong’s insurance complaints body recorded a 32.7 per cent jump in new cases last year to 857, with medical and travel policies accounting for most of the disputes.

The Insurance Claims Complaints Panel under the Insurance Complaints Bureau on Tuesday released the numbers for 2025, which showed that last year’s 857 new complaint cases reflected an increase of about a third from 646 recorded in 2024.

The figure marked a rise from 616 new cases in 2023, 607 in 2022 and 512 in 2021.

“More customers are aware that they can come to us to file a complaint when disputes arise and receive a fair, just, free and fast resolution, so it’s not surprising that complaints have increased,” panel member Orchis Li Tzy-lan said.

The panel closed 447 claim-related complaints last year, ruling in favour of the complainants in 11 cases while upholding the insurers’ decisions in 45 cases. Another 113 cases were mutually settled between insurers and complainants.

Among the 447 closed cases, 124 complainants received a total claim compensation of about HK$13.6 million from insurers, including HK$12.5 million from mutual settlement and HK$1.1 million from awards made by the complaints panel. The highest single case award stood at about HK$820,000 (US$104,700).