[Becoming an Insurance Insider] Dollar Insurance Entered by Insurers... Only a Surge in Complaints?

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[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Complaints related to foreign currency insurance have increased this year. Recently, inquiries from customers concerned about losses due to the sharp drop in the KRW-USD exchange rate have also increased.

According to the insurance industry on the 13th, there are about 10 insurance companies currently selling dollar insurance. The competition in the dollar insurance market, which was dominated by foreign insurance companies, has intensified as domestic insurers such as Samsung Life Insurance joined last month.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service, the scale of dollar insurance subscriptions in the first half of the year reached 757.5 billion KRW, and it is expected to surpass last year's sales performance (969 billion KRW).

However, as sales have increased, consumer complaints have also surged.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service, the number of financial complaints received from the first to the third quarter this year was 68,917, an increase of 7,865 cases (12.9%) compared to the same period last year.

The cumulative complaint proportions by sector for the third quarter are as follows: non-life insurance (35.2%), life insurance (23.7%), lending and mutual finance, etc. (19.4%), banks (13.4%), and financial investment (8.3%).

Complaints related to insurance in non-life and life insurance combined accounted for 58.9%, focusing on insufficient product explanations and actual loss insurance claims.

In life insurance, complaints of the insurance solicitation type claiming insufficient product explanations (8,602 cases) increased by 25.8% compared to the same period last year. By type, insurance solicitation accounted for the largest share at 52.8%, followed by insurance claim calculation/payment, and exemption/liability decisions.

In non-life insurance, as complaints related to actual loss insurance increased, insurance claim calculation/payment increased by 1,007 cases (10.5%) compared to the same period last year. By type, insurance claim calculation/payment accounted for the largest share at 43.8%, followed by contract establishment/cancellation, exemption/liability decisions, and insurance solicitation.

A Financial Supervisory Service official stated, "Recently, as the sale of foreign currency insurance using the investment sentiment for US dollar assets has increased, complaints related to explanations of exchange rate and interest rate fluctuation risks have also increased. We plan to strengthen consumer alerts, monitoring, and inspections due to concerns about incomplete sales of foreign currency insurance."

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