Best’s News & Research Service - August 06, 2015 11:05 AM (EDT)
China's Regulator Imposes Assessment System on Insurance Services
- By Iris Lai
- August 06, 2015 11:05 AM (EDT)
BEIJING //BestWire// - The China Insurance Regulatory Commission has implemented an assessment system for insurance companies' services standards in a bid to reinforce supervision of consumer service, according to a statement from the regulator.
The system evaluates companies' insurance services, including sales and marketing, underwriting, claims settlement, information disclosure, visits, complaints and other processes, with ratings given to these areas. The CIRC said the assessment will be conducted once a year for the parent company and subsidiaries of life and nonlife insurers across China.
The CIRC has issued preliminary guidelines for the management of insurance services' evaluation system. The regulator said the objective is to raise the standard of consumer services and to enhance industry competitiveness, along with addressing various malpractice issues such as mis-selling, claims and payment delays.
The system assigns 10 levels of ratings for insurance companies' services.
The CIRC has recently imposed rules to reinforce supervision on the insurance industry's new development and business service. In July, it rolled out regulations to strengthen supervision of online insurance business. The new rules define the scope of online insurance business, outlining the measures on operating conditions, geographic coverage, information disclosure and supervision management, according to the regulator's statement. The CIRC said the supervision principles aim to prevent risk, protect consumer interest and encourage innovations (Best's News Service, July 28, 2015).
The People's Bank of China also issued guidelines for the development of e-commerce financial services including online insurance. The country's central bank said cooperation between financial services and Internet companies is encouraged in order to create innovative business models (Best's News Service, July 20, 2015).
(By Iris Lai, Hong Kong bureau manager: Iris.Lai@ambest.com)