Mass Sanctions on Insurance Planners and Card Recruiters for Providing Money to Contract Holders

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo Gang-wook] Insurance planners from six life insurance companies and card solicitors from seven card companies were caught providing excessive benefits and received mass sanctions.

According to the financial sector on the 29th, the Financial Supervisory Service imposed sanctions such as cancellation of registration, up to 30 days of business suspension, and fines on planners belonging to six life insurance companies including Samsung, Hanwha, Kyobo, Prudential Life, Orange Life, and Chubb Life. The final disciplinary action will be confirmed through the Financial Services Commission.

Some planners belonging to the 'Big 3' life insurance companies?Samsung, Hanwha, and Kyobo Life?were sanctioned for violating the prohibition on providing special benefits. It was revealed that they returned the same amount as the initial insurance premium of the contract via bank transfer during the process of soliciting insurance contracts.

It was also discovered that planners signed on behalf of customers without obtaining the policyholders' handwritten signatures. Cases where planners pocketed insurance premiums received from customers or arbitrarily contracted insurance without the actual policyholder's consent were also uncovered and sanctioned.

In the case of card companies, a total of 271 solicitors from seven card companies?Hyundai, Shinhan, KB Kookmin, Samsung, Lotte, Woori, and Hana Card?were fined for violating the Specialized Credit Finance Act. Among them, Samsung Card had the highest number of solicitors sanctioned with 83 people fined, followed by Shinhan with 56, Lotte with 46, Hyundai with 36, KB Kookmin with 27, Woori with 17, and Hana with 6.

They were caught engaging in illegal activities such as street solicitation or providing benefits exceeding 10% of the annual fee. According to the Specialized Credit Finance Business Act, street solicitation by credit card solicitors, providing economic benefits exceeding 10% of the annual fee, allowing others to solicit credit cards, or delegating solicitation are prohibited.

One solicitor recruited credit card members in December 2017 on the condition of providing 100,000 KRW in cash. There were also cases of attracting members by providing amusement park free passes worth 50,000 KRW or offering black boxes and Hi-Pass devices.

Additionally, street solicitation, which had been banned since the 2003 'Card Crisis,' was rampant again. This is the third mass fine imposed on credit card solicitors this year. A total of 567 card company solicitors were caught engaging in illegal activities this year.

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