Hong Kong insurer faces $334M payout for deadly apartment fire

The company had underwritten third-party liability and employee compensation for mandatory building and window inspection work at Wang Fuk Court building complex in Tai Po District, where rescue and firefighting efforts are ongoing after a fire broke out Wednesday, according to Bloomberg.

Thick smoke billows from the upper floors of a residential block at Wang Fuk Court housing estate during a major fire that engulfed bamboo scaffolding across multiple buildings, in Tai Po, Hong Kong, China, Nov. 27, 2025. Photo by Reuters

Its shares dropped as much as 8.1% in early trading Thursday before trimming losses to under 1%.

China Taiping’s policy covers the full insurance contract amount plus an additional HKD50 million for accidents.

The insurer also provides HKD200 million in employee compensation for the project.

In addition, the company holds a general property-all-risk policy with HKD2 billion in coverage.

This means the insurer’s exposure could reach HKD2.6 billion, equivalent to about 9.3% of this year’s consensus earnings.

The tightly packed Wang Fuk Court has 2,000 apartments across eight blocks that are home to more than 4,600 people. Its eight residential blocks in the estate had been undergoing renovations since July 2024, sheathed in bamboo scaffolding and green mesh.

At least 94 people have died and 76 injured. Authorities said they had doused the flames in four of seven affected blocks, with those in the rest brought under control more than 24 hours after the blaze started, Reuters reported.

The fire may have been caused by a "grossly negligent" construction firm using unsafe materials, police said.

It is Hong Kong's deadliest fire since 1948, when an explosion followed by a fire killed 135 people.