How to find and read fulfilment ratios: five steps to look them up, how to read the tables and how to check them against your annual bonus notice

A fulfilment ratio is the non-guaranteed bonus actually declared on a participating policy divided by the non-guaranteed bonus illustrated under the best estimate scenario in the benefit illustration at the point of sale. Hong Kong insurers publish it for each product series. It answers "how much of the originally illustrated bonus was delivered", not "how high this policy's return is".

Jurisdiction: Hong Kong. This page covers the practical side only: where to look, how to read the tables and how to compare them with your own policy. For the definition, the calculation basis, a section-by-section reading of the disclosure rules in the GL16 Interpretation Notes (year spans, update deadlines, required statements) and a Hong Kong–Singapore comparison, see the fulfilment ratio page on our sister site wholelife.hk. This site does not list fulfilment ratios for any company or product and does not rank them.

Three things to establish first: who discloses, what, and where

The Insurance Authority (IA) Interpretation Notes on GL16 (issued February 2023, effective 1 January 2024) require insurers to disclose fulfilment ratios each year on their websites for every participating product series that has issued new policies since 2010 and still has policies in force in the reporting year. Annual dividends, reversionary bonuses and terminal bonuses must be shown separately, together with a statement that past bonuses are not an indicator of future declarations. The disclosure web address must appear in the product brochure and benefit illustration, and the IA website also maintains a "List of insurers' fulfilment ratio websites" linking to each company's disclosure page.

Universal life has no "fulfilment ratio"; its equivalent is the historical crediting rate disclosed by product series (see Hong Kong insurance products at a glance). The revised GL16, effective 31 March 2026, also requires insurers to notify policyholders of declared non-guaranteed benefits at least annually, with updated projections (according to DLA Piper, 25 March 2026). That notice is the starting point for the "side-by-side reading" below.

How to look it up: five steps to a fulfilment ratio table

1. Confirm the product series name: find the product name and its series in the benefit illustration or product brochure. Note that a series may have versions in different currencies and may have been renamed.
2. Find the disclosure address: the fulfilment ratio web address should be printed in the illustration and brochure; you can also reach each company's page through the IA's "List of insurers' fulfilment ratio websites".
3. Choose the reporting year: start with the latest report, then compare earlier years to see the trend; company pages are usually archived by reporting year.
4. Locate the policy year and bonus type: find the row for your policy's issue year and look at the annual dividend, reversionary bonus and terminal bonus columns separately.
5. Note the basis of preparation: read the table footnotes, for example whether different currencies are disclosed together, whether reversionary bonuses are measured at cash value or face value, and the criteria for including or excluding series.

New products generally start publishing fulfilment ratios about a year after launch (IFEC, December 2022). Where there is no record or only a short one, the IFEC suggests looking at the fulfilment ratios of similar products from the same company, but these cannot be taken as the product's own performance.

How to read the table: separate bonus types and policy years

Fulfilment ratio tables are usually arranged by "issue year × bonus type". It helps to read them in three layers:

• Separate the bonus types: annual dividends and reversionary bonuses generally vest in the policy once declared, so their ratios reflect cumulative delivery. Terminal bonuses can be raised or cut until paid, so their ratios reflect the declared level at the reporting date and usually fluctuate more. If a product's long-term benefits come mainly from the terminal bonus, focus on the terminal bonus column.
• Separate the policy years: issue years that have been held for many years say more about long-term performance; for years issued only one or two years ago, the illustrated bonus itself is very small, so the ratio easily comes close to 100%.
• Look at trends, not single years: how the same issue year changes across several consecutive reporting years is more informative than any one year's figure.

Reading it alongside your annual bonus notice: a hypothetical example

Fulfilment ratios tell you about the product series; the annual bonus notice tells you about your own policy. Use them together: first take the declared bonuses and updated projections for your policy from the annual notice, then look up the fulfilment ratios for the same series and issue year on the insurer's website to judge where your policy stands.

All figures below are hypothetical and only illustrate how to read the documents; they do not represent any product or company. Suppose the annual notice for policy year 8 of a policy and the fulfilment ratio table for the same series show the following:

In this hypothetical, the policy's long-term benefits depend heavily on the terminal bonus, which is precisely the part with the lower delivery rate and higher volatility. What the reader should focus on is therefore not "the average fulfilment ratio", but "if the terminal bonus continues to fall short of the illustration, can the guaranteed cash value plus vested bonuses still meet the original purpose?"

Illustration caps and two easily overlooked misreadings

An IA practice note (issued 28 February 2025) provides that from 1 July 2025 the return assumptions in point-of-sale benefit illustrations for participating policies are capped at 6.0% p.a. for HKD policies and 6.5% p.a. for non-HKD policies. The cap only limits what is illustrated at the point of sale and does not change actual investment returns. Because the denominator of a fulfilment ratio is the bonus illustrated at the point of sale, and policies issued before and after the cap may rest on different illustration assumptions, bear this in mind when comparing across issue years; see the illustration cap page on wholelife.hk.

Besides common claims such as "100% means good returns" and "ratios close to 100% in the early years show stability" (which wholelife.hk addresses one by one), two misreadings deserve separate mention:

1. "A fulfilment ratio above 100% is always good news": delivering more than illustrated is a positive result, but check whether it comes mainly from the more volatile terminal bonus and whether it falls back in later reporting years. Terminal bonuses do not vest until paid, so the part above 100% is not "in the bank".
2. "One figure represents the whole company": fulfilment ratios are disclosed by product series, bonus type and issue year. Different series and currency versions from the same company can differ markedly, so the figures for one series cannot be used to infer another.

Third-party industry indices: what they can and cannot tell you

The actuarial consultancy Milliman compiles a Hong Kong fulfilment ratio index using its own methodology. Its report published on 1 May 2026 covers industry index values for reporting years 2017 to 2024 and compares company-level changes in fulfilment ratios between 2024 and 2023; for the actual figures, refer to the original report.

Such indices help in understanding overall delivery levels and trends across the industry, but note that: they are secondary data compiled by a third party using its own methodology, not official IA statistics; they cover participating products only; they reflect industry averages and do not represent any single product; and past figures do not indicate the future.

If you would like help interpreting fulfilment ratios and annual bonus notices for your own policy, you can register your needs through the contact details on this site.