HONG KONG - Hong Kong's total gross premiums of the insurance industry in the first half of this year amounted to HK$125.5 billion($16.17 billion), up 9.3 percent year-on-year, the city's Office of the Insurance Commissioner announced Friday.

According to the figure released, general insurance business gross and net premiums grew 8.2 percent to HK$20.3 billion?and 9.9 percent to HK$14.2 billion.

Direct business gross and net premiums rose 11.9 percent to HK$15.6 billion and 11.8 percent to HK$11.5 billion, mainly driven by general liability business. Accident and health business, and property damage business also contributed to the premium growth.

Direct business underwriting profit increased year-on-year from HK$964 million to HK$1 billion. However, due to the shrinkage in the underwriting profit of mortgage guarantee business, the underwriting profit of pecuniary loss business decreased substantially.