China-Singapore Jingwei Client, December 15th (Wei Wei) The "Internet Insurance Business Supervision Measures" for twice soliciting opinions was officially announced.
On the 14th, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission’s official website issued the "Measures for the Supervision of Internet Insurance Business" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures"). The "Measures" consist of 5 chapters and 83 articles, including general rules, basic business rules, special business rules, supervision and management, and supplementary rules. It will come into effect on February 1, 2015.
The epidemic is undoubtedly a test for insurance companies that rely on offline "face-to-face interviews" and other traditional marketing methods. Internet channel marketing insurance has become the new "darling" of the insurance industry.
What impact will the implementation of the new regulations have on Internet insurance?
Emphasis on licensed operation of small and medium insurance companies to welcome the big test
"In fact, when the draft of this method was solicited for comments, we conducted a lot of researches one by one. The company currently feels that it has little impact on us, and there may even be some benefits because we are a licensed institution." A head insurance agency The relevant person in charge said.
The "Measures" emphasizes the principle of licensed operation. Article 3 stipulates that "Internet insurance business shall be carried out by insurance institutions established in accordance with the law, and other institutions and individuals shall not conduct Internet insurance business." The "Measures" also specify that insurance institutions only need to meet the requirements of the "Measures". 》, the Internet insurance business can be carried out without applying for business license or business filing.
Ma Xiao, the chief researcher of Huize Insurance Brokers Singularity Research Institute, told the Sino-Singapore Jingwei Client that the “Measures” emphasized the basic principles of “institution licenses and personnel licenses”, standardized the identification standards of self-operated online platforms, and strengthened The industrial status of licensed institutions is conducive to the standardized development of licensed institutions with standardized management.
At the same time, under stricter regulatory conditions, small and medium-sized institutions have increased their demand for empowerment in technology, products, operations, services, etc. In particular, the “Measures” clearly stated that Internet business delegation is allowed, and the head platform will have new Business opportunity.
With the official promulgation of the "Measures", small and medium insurance companies and insurance intermediary companies will also have a "big exam". Can they complete the rectification and reform as scheduled to meet regulatory requirements?
"As far as I know, after the epidemic, many insurance companies have undergone digital transformation relatively quickly. Companies have increased their investment in online, and their business has shifted from offline to online. After a lot of efforts, most entities can meet the conditions and continue to carry out Internet insurance-related activities. Business." Zhu Junsheng, a researcher at the China Insurance and Pension Research Center, Wudaokou School of Finance, Tsinghua University, introduced the Sino-Singapore Jingwei Client.
"After waiting for a long time, the boots finally landed," said a relevant person in charge of a medium-sized insurance broker company. "During the epidemic, we increased our investment in online, and it really worked quickly, and the company's direct-operated platform functions increased. Now that the new regulations are officially released, we will accelerate the further specification of the platform to meet regulatory compliance requirements."
In fact, as early as October 2018, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the "Internet Insurance Business Supervision Measures (Draft)", and solicited opinions in two rounds in December 2019 and October 2020. Most insurance companies have already commented on the "Measures". Expected.
The "Measures" clearly stipulate the business conditions, sales management, and service management of insurance institutions that carry out Internet insurance business and their self-operated online platforms.
If you need to have an information management system and core business system that support the operation of Internet insurance business, establish or clarify the Internet insurance business management department, set up an Internet insurance column for information disclosure, and list customer service numbers in a prominent position on the self-operated online platform for Internet insurance business , Information such as insurance consultation methods.
Yang Fan, chairman of Xinmei Life Mutual Insurance, introduced to the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client that small and medium-sized insurance companies generally pay more attention to system construction, especially newly established companies, which are more active in the application of new technologies. There is no historical burden in the system and can be "light-packed". Go to battle".
Although it was implemented on February 1, Article 81 of the "Measures" also clearly provided a timetable for rectification, plus the previous rounds of solicitation of opinions, and there is plenty of time for small and medium-sized insurance companies that are prepared and planned.
Under the general trend of the Internet, I believe that small and medium insurance companies and intermediaries are very keen to seize this transformation opportunity.
The "Measures" set a staged transition period. The rectification of system construction, marketing, sales management, information disclosure and other issues will be completed within 3 months from the date of implementation, and the rectification of other issues such as business and operation will be completed within 6 months. Complete the network security level protection certification of the self-operated network platform within the month.
In addition, for small and medium insurance companies, they are most concerned about cross-regional and insurance issues.
"The most important feature of the Internet economy is to break through the boundaries of time and space, so that consumers in different regions can enjoy consistent products and services. Therefore, whether it can break through the scope of insurance company branches to carry out sales has also attracted industry attention." The relevant person in charge of the aforementioned insurance institution said , Especially for many small and medium insurance companies, under the current situation of the end of the agent dividend, the difficulty of adding staff and retaining them, many companies have extremely high expectations for Internet channels.
The "Measures" make principled regulations on insurance products sold on the Internet and business areas, and reserve policy space for future development.
The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission stated that it will separately stipulate the insurance coverage and relevant conditions for insurance institutions to sell insurance products through the Internet, and will issue relevant policies in a timely manner to ensure effective convergence of policies.
Banking insurance agents and Internet companies are included in supervision
In recent years, not only insurance institutions have accelerated the layout of the Internet insurance business track, but banks and Internet companies have also tried to compete in this field.
The Sino-Singapore Jingwei Client noticed that the Measures also liberalized two major entities: bank-type insurance agencies and Internet companies that have obtained licenses to operate insurance agency businesses.
Zhu Junsheng pointed out that in accordance with the new changes in practice, the scope of the main body of Internet insurance business has been expanded and enriched in a timely manner.
Expanding the business entity from a professional intermediary to a part-time agency means that the bank (post) part-time agency agency selling insurance products through its own Internet platform will be included in the scope of Internet insurance.
This will help diversified entities participate in the Internet insurance market, further improve the market system, and form long-term cooperative relationships through business cooperation, technology empowerment and equity investment between entities, which will further stimulate the vitality of the insurance industry.
Specifically, bancassurance agencies that sell Internet insurance products should meet three requirements: one is to sell through the electronic banking business platform; the second is to comply with the regulatory requirements of the China Banking Regulatory Commission on the business area of electronic banking; and the third is bancassurance. Part-time agencies and their sales practitioners shall not delegate Internet insurance business to other institutions or individuals.
In addition to meeting the general requirements of the Measures for insurance agencies, Internet companies’ insurance agency business has also strengthened the following requirements for Internet companies’ insurance agency business: First, it requires a license to operate, and Internet companies’ insurance agency business should obtain a license to operate insurance agency business. ; The second is to have strong compliance management capabilities, scenarios and traffic advantages, information technology strength, etc.; the third is to achieve independent business operation, and to achieve business isolation and risk isolation from the main business; fourth is not to transfer Internet insurance business Entrusted to other institutions or individuals; fifth is to strengthen the protection of consumer rights and establish a quick response mechanism for after-sales service.
According to the Shanghai Securities News, 22 large and medium-sized Internet platforms, including Ant Group, JD, Baidu, Suning, Meituan, and Didi, have relevant qualifications.
"From the current point of view, most of the major Internet companies have obtained professional intermediary licenses, and there will be no major obstacles to handling them in operation." Ma Xiao said.
An industry insider who did not want to be named believes that the "Measures" actually affirmed that Internet companies have entered the insurance intermediary track, that is, they can operate related businesses if they are licensed, compliant, and meet regulatory requirements.
ZhongAn Insurance strategic planning expert Zhu Feng told the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client that Internet companies use their advantages in scenarios, traffic and extensive reach of consumers, which will help promote the industry to practice insurance inclusiveness.
It is worth noting that with the rapid development of Internet insurance in recent years, sales chaos have occurred frequently.
For example, some unqualified Internet platforms and individuals sell insurance products through self-media, and the resulting problems and complaints have also increased.
According to data from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, a total of 19,900 Internet insurance consumer complaints were received in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 88.59%, which is 7 times the number of complaints in 2016.
The "Measures" clearly put forward the "five prohibitions" of non-insurance institutions, including not providing consulting services for insurance products, not comparing insurance products, trial calculations of premiums, quotation comparisons, not designing insurance plans for policyholders, not handling insurance procedures, and not collecting Premium.
Moments, live broadcast insurance requires agency authorization
Another focus of attention in the new regulations is to further regulate the new form of insurance marketing.
In recent years, some insurance agency practitioners have conducted Internet marketing through WeChat Moments, live broadcasts, Weibo, short videos, etc., which dazzles consumers and makes it difficult to distinguish true from false. These behaviors will be regulated in the future.
The "Measures" stipulate that employees of insurance institutions can carry out Internet insurance marketing and promotion after being authorized by their affiliated institutions.
Regarding the marketing and promotion of practitioners, the "Measures" clarified specific requirements: First, practitioners should carry out Internet insurance marketing and promotion within the scope of authorization of insurance institutions; second, marketing and promotion content issued by practitioners should be uniformly produced by their insurance institutions; third, Practitioners should indicate the full name of the insurance institution and personal name, practice certificate number and other information in a prominent position on the marketing promotion page.
Regarding the content of marketing and publicity, the "Measures" also made targeted provisions: first, the marketing and publicity activities should follow the principles of clearness, accuracy, easy-to-understand, and conformity to public order and good customs; second, the content of marketing and publicity should be consistent with the terms of the insurance contract; It is the marketing promotion page that should accurately describe the main functions and characteristics of insurance products.
"At present, many practitioners write propaganda copywriting on their own, and the quality and compliance are uneven. Moments are a relatively private space. How insurance institutions can effectively manage individual behaviors still needs to be explored." Ma Xiao said.
In addition, in recent years, disputes arising from Internet sales of insurance have also occurred from time to time, such as claims disputes caused by omissions in health notifications. The "Measures" stipulates that "for the complete inability to complete online corrections, preservation, surrender, and claim settlement, etc. In case of activities, insurance companies shall not operate related Internet insurance products".
In this regard, Ma Xiao believes that insurance institutions must firstly carry out information disclosure and adjustments in accordance with regulatory requirements, and secondly do a good job in retrospective management of sales behaviors to avoid hidden troubles in the sales process.
At the same time, in the after-sales service link, a variety of forms should be adopted to construct a closed-loop online service process to avoid using the Internet only in the sales link for the sole purpose of chasing the premium scale, so as to prevent "easy to insure and difficult to service" disputes and affect industry reputation.
(Zhongxin Jingwei APP)
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