Temporary Approval for Non-Face-to-Face Sales by Insurance Agents via Phone and Others

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[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Insurance agents, who have found face-to-face sales difficult due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), will be allowed to conduct non-face-to-face sales via phone calls and other methods.

According to the insurance industry on the 14th, the Financial Supervisory Service recently sent a non-action opinion letter to the Life and Non-life Insurance Associations allowing insurance agents to conduct non-face-to-face sales only during the 'caution' or 'serious' stages of COVID-19.

The associations requested a relaxation of regulations stipulated by the Insurance Business Act and related laws to enable insurance agents to conclude insurance contracts non-face-to-face. A non-action opinion letter is a system where financial authorities respond to a request for review on whether a financial company violates regulations.

According to the Insurance Business Supervision Regulations, insurance agents must explain important matters of the insurance contract face-to-face with the policyholder and provide the product explanation document electronically to the policyholder.

The Financial Supervisory Service has temporarily allowed regulations applied to non-face-to-face channels such as telemarketing (TM) channels when insurance agents conduct non-face-to-face sales.

Accordingly, insurance agents must explain important insurance contract details based on a standard product explanation script and confirm through recording whether the policyholder understands the related content. Also, within 5 business days from the application date, the product explanation document must be sent in writing.

The Financial Supervisory Service also allowed the part requiring the customer's handwritten signature during non-face-to-face insurance contracts to be replaced by voice 'recording.' However, this is currently limited to insurance products where handwritten signatures can be replaced by recordings in telemarketing sales.

Furthermore, the withdrawal period for insurance contracts concluded through non-face-to-face sales has been extended. The existing withdrawal period of 3 months after the contract has been extended by an additional 45 days. In addition, insurance companies must monitor all insurance contracts concluded non-face-to-face by insurance agents to prevent incomplete sales in advance.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.