Changing financial regulations are causing Canadian insurer Manulife to consider redomiciling to Hong Kong.

The change was triggered by an announcement last month that Hong Kong financial regulators are looking at a new regulatory framework that makes it easier for overseas companies to return to the city of 7.4 million people.

The proposal would allow overseas companies to change their place of incorporation to Hong Kong without winding up or getting court approval first, which can be an expensive, logistical challenge.

Patrick Graham, chief executive officer of Manulife Hong Kong and Macau, this week told the South China Morning Post that his company was one of several large firms pushing this agenda.

“It is a quirk of history that we all started in Bermuda,” he said.

Manulife was originally started in Canada in 1887, and sold its first policy outside of the country in Bermuda in 1893, four years before it entered the market in China.

Mr Graham said the Hong Kong government and the insurance industry there were “lined up” to make the redomiciling happen.

He wanted to make this move to reaffirm Manulife’s commitment to the Hong-Kong region.

He said if Manulife does reincorporate there, they will continue to operate an office in Bermuda.

According to the South China Morning Post, Manulife was one of several companies, such as Axa and HSBC Life, that incorporated in Bermuda because of an estate duty the city levied when they set up several years ago. That was abolished in 2006.

The Chinese Government’s latest move is designed to rejuvenate Hong Kong’s insurance industry, which took a major hit during the pandemic.

A year ago, there were concerns that a third of insurance firms in Hong Kong were considering leaving the city, because of a talent shortage exacerbated by Covid-19 travel restrictions and challenges with the mainland China border.

Hong Kong has said they will continue to collect feedback before deciding on the regulatory changes, next month.