Note: The bar chart is the top 10 insurance companies (unit: piece) with complaints about Internet insurance consumption in 2018.
On December 13th, some Internet insurance companies received the Regulation Measures for Internet Insurance Business (Draft for Comment) issued by the regulatory authorities on a small scale, which triggered a heated discussion in the industry. According to a survey conducted by Guangzhou Daily’s all-media reporters, Internet insurance has been questioned constantly, among which Beijing Huaxia Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd. and Beijing United Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd., which are wholly-owned by Headlines today, have attracted much attention. Yesterday, the Guangzhou Daily reporter learned about the questioning of relevant compliance from today’s headlines, and the headlines said that they would not comment.
Guangzhou Daily All-Media Reporter Chen Lili and Ni Ming
Phenomenon 1: The compliance of insurance sales on content platforms is questioned.
"Many third-party platforms get insurance brokerage licenses by acquiring insurance brokerage companies, thus getting involved in the insurance industry." An insurance expert who did not want to be named said that the compliance of such platforms to carry out Internet insurance business was questioned. The reporter found that there are three kinds of Internet insurance brokerage platforms at present: Internet intermediary channels, Internet scene channels and Internet traffic channels. Internet platforms have become the first type of enterprises to test Internet insurance.
The reporter found that there are more doubts about the compliance of content platforms selling insurance. Among them, today’s headline parent company Fujian ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd. acquired 100% equity of Beijing Huaxia Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd., and after winning the insurance brokerage license, its business compliance has been questioned.
However, yesterday, the reporter searched for the "number one insurance" (the exclusive service insurance platform for headline users) on its APP platform. At present, more than 20 insurance products are in normal sale. Regarding the voices questioned by the outside world, yesterday’s headlines said that they would not comment.
The voice of doubt is unique. Xuzhou Business Department of Beijing United Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd. was also warned by Jiangsu Supervision Bureau of China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, China, and fined 20,000 yuan for compliance problems. As an insurance broker, when he undertook the business record account of personal accident insurance, a kindergarten student in a certain city in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018, more than 250,000 people failed to record the insured’s name, insurance amount, insurance premium delivery, etc., and after registering the "XXX Online" website with Jiangsu in October 2016, the insurance brokerage business was carried out through the above platform without the authorization and permission of Beijing United Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd., and the relevant website was not on the website of insurance association of china.
Phenomenon 2: Internet insurance consumer complaints become a pain point
With the rapid development of Internet insurance, while providing consumers with convenient purchase methods, consumer complaints have also soared. In the first three quarters, the data released by China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission showed that Yi ‘an Property Insurance and Anxin Property Insurance were the first and second places where property insurance companies were suspected of violating laws and regulations, including 308 complaints against Yi ‘an Property Insurance, up by 30,700% year-on-year; There were 99 complaints about Anxin Property Insurance, up 4850% year-on-year.
The reporter found that the top 100 million premium complaints are still mostly professional Internet insurance companies, among which the top two complaints are Yi ‘an Property Insurance with 113.97 pieces/100 million yuan and Anxin Property Insurance with 69.62 pieces/100 million yuan.
According to the statistics of last year, in 2018, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and its agencies received 10,531 complaints about Internet insurance consumption, up by 121.01% year-on-year. Among them, 8484 property insurance companies were involved, up 128.25% year-on-year; 2,047 personal insurance companies were involved, up 95.32% year-on-year. It mainly reflects the problems of insufficient or ambiguous sales notification, unreasonable claims conditions, insufficient reasons for refusing compensation, bundled sales of insurance products, automatic renewal of insurance without consent and so on.
The public is worried: What should I do if the Internet platform runs away?
"It is really convenient to buy insurance on the Internet platform. What should I do if the owner of the Internet platform runs away?" For the concerns of many citizens, industry insiders admit that although consumers buy online insurance from the Internet platform, the insurance companies are the ones who finally underwrite, underwrite and settle claims.
The exposure draft has stricter regulatory requirements on the platform, defines the self-operated network platform and the third-party network platform, and makes it clear that the customer insurance page in the internet insurance business must belong to the self-operated network platform of insurance institutions, and it is clear that it can only be promoted but not sold, and the links need to jump, and customer information cannot be withheld.
Key factor: claim settlement becomes a concern.
"It is really convenient to buy insurance on the Internet platform, and the supervision is becoming more and more strict. I believe that the compliance issue will continue to improve, but it is really necessary to question whether the claims are reliable." People in the industry admit that online insurance, where the insured is located, has a branch of the corresponding insurance company. This situation is relatively simple, but if the insurance company is in a different place, or there is no local branch, then the time spent by the insurance company is difficult to guarantee.
The reporter learned that Yi ‘an Property Insurance was criticized by the regulatory authorities because of the limitation of claims. From June to August, 2019, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission accepted 266 complaints about Internet insurance consumption that reflected the alleged violation of laws and regulations of Yi ‘an Property Insurance, which focused on the limitation of claims of Yi ‘an Property Insurance, involving 270 claims. After investigation, there was a problem that 234 claims were approved beyond the time limit. Specifically, Yi ‘an Property Insurance failed to approve the claims within 30 days after the consumer provided the claims certificate and materials, which violated the provisions of Article 23 of the Insurance Law. The average approval time of 234 overdue claims was 55 days, of which 180 claims were approved within 31-60 days, 42 claims were approved within 61-90 days, 7 claims were approved for more than 90 days, and 5 claims were not approved when they were investigated in China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.
Consumer suggestion: Buy Internet insurance products through formal channels.
Faced with the current situation of internet insurance, the regulatory authorities believe that the purchase of insurance products through internet channels should be "three attentions". First, pay attention to channels, and consumers should pay attention to buying internet insurance products from formal channels such as online shopping malls of insurance companies and third-party network platforms that cooperate with insurance companies; Second, pay attention to qualifications. Consumers should pay attention to whether Internet insurance business operators have corresponding qualifications and do not buy products sold by unqualified subjects; The third is to pay attention to the products, to identify the authenticity of the purchased products, to read the insurance clauses carefully, and to fully understand the scope of protection and exemption of insurance products.
In addition, because it is quite convenient to buy insurance on the Internet platform now, the regulatory authorities reminded that it is clear that buying insurance requires "four looks". The first thing is to look at the demand, that is, to choose the right product according to your family situation and your life stage; Secondly, we should look at the products and buy the corresponding products according to the demand. We should not compare insurance with financial products such as bank deposits, government bonds and funds, let alone use it as a substitute for bank deposits. The third is to look at income. Life insurance premiums for more than one year are divided into one-time payment and installment payment. Consumers should consider choosing insurance products with appropriate payment methods. Generally speaking, the premium expenditure is between 5% and 15% of the annual income. Fourth, look at the terms, we must carefully read the contract terms, especially the coverage and exemption clauses of insurance products, and fully enjoy the risk protection function of insurance.
The insiders also reminded that it is best to contact the service platform first to report claims, and under its guidance, collect claims materials and submit them for review. In the case of different places, because it is impossible for insurance companies to go to the field for verification, they will generally recognize the identification of two institutions: the relevant certificates of the public security organs and the diagnosis certificate of the hospital.
