In the first quarter, insurance complaints were high, and executives of 10 insurance companies were interviewed.
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In the first quarter, the national banking insurance supervision system received a total of 22,651 complaints about insurance consumption, which was 9.90% lower than the same period of last year, but it was still running at a high level. The fundamental reason is that insurance companies have not really established the business philosophy of customer first, the awareness of protecting consumers’ rights and interests is weak, the implementation of the main responsibility is not in place, especially the management and control of sales behavior is weak. In this regard, the regulatory authorities have further strengthened the investigation and punishment of misleading insurance sales, organized and carried out "precision strike action", strictly rectified, dealt with quickly, and paid more attention to accountability, played a warning and deterrent role, and better protected the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
Recently, the Insurance Regulatory Commission of the Bank of China, in combination with the evaluation of handling complaints about insurance consumption in 2017, held supervision talks with the principal leaders of 10 insurance companies, including Xinhua Life Insurance, China Life Insurance, People’s Life Insurance, Sunshine Life Insurance, Taikang Life Insurance, Zhonghua Property Insurance, Yongan Property Insurance, Taiping Property Insurance, Yingda Property Insurance and Zhongan Online, which ranked lower in complaint handling evaluation.
According to industry insiders, it is the first time that executives of various companies have been interviewed by the regulatory authorities, which reflects the determination of the regulatory authorities to protect consumer rights.
In recent years, with the improvement of people’s living standards, insurance products and services not only cover all walks of life, but also go deeper into people’s lives. While residents’ awareness of insurance consumption has been significantly improved, various consumer disputes have followed suit, and consumer complaints have emerged in large numbers.
What are the "hot spots" of these complaints? What are the deep-seated problems behind the development of the industry? How to improve? Our reporter interviewed the heads of relevant departments in China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.
Insurance complaints are still running at a high level, and claims disputes and sales disputes are more prominent.
The data shows that in the first quarter of this year, the national banking insurance supervision system received a total of 22,651 complaints about insurance consumption, which was 9.90% lower than the same period of last year, but it was still running at a high level. In terms of property insurance, consumer complaints involved 10,944 pieces of property insurance. Among them, there are 8628 claims disputes, accounting for 78.84% of the total property insurance complaints. The claims disputes are still dominated by auto insurance claims, which mainly reflect the disputes over liability identification in the stage of loss determination and compensation, the slow limitation of claims, the disagreement over the amount of claims, the disputes over the reasons for refusing claims, and the claims disputes caused by the failure to explain the obligations of underwriting.
In terms of personal insurance, consumer complaints involved 11,707 personal insurances. Among them, there were 4,907 complaints about sales disputes, accounting for 41.92% of the total complaints about personal insurance, which mainly reflected the exaggeration of insurance liability or income, the failure to truthfully explain the important contract contents such as insurance period, consequences of failure to pay fees on time, loss of termination and maturity of payment, and false and untrue propaganda. There were 3246 complaints about claims disputes, accounting for 27.73%, which mainly reflected the disputes about responsibility identification, slow limitation of claims and the amount of claims. There were 1140 complaints about surrender disputes, accounting for 9.74%, mainly reflecting the disputes over surrender amount and the slow time limit for surrender. In terms of types of insurance, complaints about insurance services such as sickness insurance and medical insurance increased significantly, with a year-on-year increase of 41.63%.
"The complaint data and the market operation mastered by the regulatory authorities also confirm each other." The relevant responsible comrades in China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said, "For example, in personal insurance complaints, sales disputes are relatively concentrated. In 2017, complaints caused by insurance sales accounted for 45.60% of personal insurance complaints, and complaints caused by misleading insurance liability or income accounted for more than 80% of sales disputes."
"There are many insurance complaints. The fundamental reason is that insurance companies have not really established the business philosophy of customer first, consumers’ awareness of protection of rights and interests is weak, and the implementation of the main responsibility is not in place, especially the management and control of sales behavior is weak." He said that the problem of some insurance companies "focusing on front-end sales but neglecting back-end claims, focusing on performance and neglecting services" is more prominent, and it is difficult to meet the growing insurance demand of consumers. At the same time, some marketers have unilaterally explained product terms and deliberately concealed important contents of insurance contracts, infringing on the right to know and legitimate interests of insurance consumers.
"The sales behavior of quick success and instant benefit not only damages the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, but also damages the reputation of insurance institutions and the social image of the industry." The person in charge said.
Internet insurance complaints have increased, and flight delay insurance and travel accident insurance are hot spots for complaints.
The chronic disease has not been removed, and the troubles are coming again. In recent years, complaints about Internet sales channels have increased rapidly. In 2017, insurance regulators received a total of 4,303 complaints about Internet sales channels, an increase of 52.64% over the same period in 2016. Among them, flight delay insurance, travel accident insurance, return freight insurance and hotel cancellation insurance sold through the Internet are the "hardest hit areas" for complaints.
Insiders pointed out that the reason for the surge in Internet insurance complaints is that the sales method is not suitable for fully protecting the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. Different from face-to-face sales, online insurance mostly explains insurance clauses, insurance liabilities and other contents to consumers by means of "tick reading", which easily causes consumers to ignore or misunderstand important information that affects their insurance coverage, leading to contradictions and disputes in later claims settlement. Second, the service package does not match the speed of business development. Online new business has expanded its territory, but there are not enough physical service outlets and personnel to match it offline; The data systems of some third-party Internet platforms are lagging behind, and they can’t be connected with the business systems of insurance companies in real time, resulting in the problems that consumers can’t inquire about insurance policies and enjoy insurance services in time after being insured. Third, when some large Internet platforms cooperate with insurance companies, they are in an advantageous position in terms of capital, information, customer resources, etc. The latter is difficult to effectively control their sales behavior, and it is easy to cause complaints.
"There are still some insurance companies that lack the scientificity and rigor of product design and development in pursuit of explosions and eye-catching, which is easy to lead to insurance consumption disputes." China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the responsible comrade, said that the regulatory authorities have been continuously cracking down on old problems and new problems.
On May 28th this year, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission notified the administrative penalty decision of Quanzhou Central Branch of PICC Life Insurance Company. On the one hand, the company deceived the insured, lied that the product was sold within 7 days, and stated that "6% of the latest interest rates of major banks have been killed" and "the company enjoys dividend every year". At the same time, it refused to provide relevant information to the inspection team, which hindered supervision and inspection according to law. To this end, the company was fined 250,000 yuan, and the responsible person was severely dealt with.
The regulatory authorities will continue to maintain strict punishment and strict accountability.
The main problems of the 10 insurance companies interviewed this time focus on the high number of complaints about insurance consumption, the inadequate implementation of the complaint handling system, and more complaints about sales disputes and claims disputes. In addition to the top leaders, business department heads who caused more complaints were also required to participate in regulatory talks.
The responsible persons of the insurance companies interviewed all said that they would strictly implement the regulatory requirements, rectify within a time limit, properly handle complaints and disputes with effective measures, continuously improve their operating level and service quality, and effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
"To purify the insurance market and protect consumers’ rights and interests, we must fight a tough battle and fight a protracted war." China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the responsible comrade, said that the regulatory authorities will adhere to the "people-centered" regulatory concept, solidly promote the work of rectifying market chaos, severely investigate and deal with all kinds of illegal acts that harm consumers’ legitimate rights and interests, and continue to strengthen the management of misleading insurance sales and difficult claims.
Recently, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, China has further strengthened its efforts to investigate and punish misleading insurance sales, organized a "precision strike operation", strictly rectified, dealt with quickly, and paid more attention to accountability, playing a warning and deterrent role. "The regulatory authorities will continue to maintain a high-pressure situation of strict punishment and strict accountability for violations of laws and regulations, rectify and standardize market order, and better implement the protection of consumers’ legitimate rights and interests, forming a normal state." The person in charge said.
Insiders pointed out that after the merger of China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, supervision showed stronger execution — — In view of misleading bank insurance sales, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission recently hit a heavy blow. According to the report of China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission official website on June 6, the contents of insurance period and annualized rate of return declared by Sunshine Life Insurance when selling products were seriously inconsistent with the provisions of the insurance contract, which deceived the insured, and the illegal acts of Hohhot Jiadi Sub-branch of Bank of China, which allowed the insurance company staff to stay in the office to sell, participate in the bank’s agency insurance sales and "double record" work, Administrative penalties were imposed according to law: the insurance institutions involved were stopped accepting new business from banks for one year and fined 600,000 yuan; the banks involved stopped accepting new business from agency insurance for one year and fined 300,000 yuan; and the relevant responsible persons were also warned and fined.