Kakao Pay Temporarily Suspends Some Insurance Products... Complete Overhaul of Fund Investment Services

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] Kakao Pay is suspending additional insurance products. Kakao Pay stated that it temporarily halted the sale of insurance products that may violate the Financial Consumer Protection Act (FCPA) in the sales process. It plans to resume the service after resolving the issues in accordance with the financial authorities' guidelines.

According to the financial sector on the 13th, Kakao Pay temporarily ended sales of driver insurance (Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance), pet insurance (Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance), exercise insurance (Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance), mobile phone insurance (Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance), and overseas travel insurance (KB Insurance, NH Nonghyup Insurance, Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance) as of the 12th. Additionally, the 'Insurance Solver' service, provided through professional consultants affiliated with Rich & Co to assist users who find insurance difficult, was also temporarily suspended.

The service suspension mainly targets products that may violate the Financial Consumer Protection Act in the future. Previously, Kakao Pay decided to suspend its direct automobile insurance premium comparison service this month. Kakao Pay informed six insurance companies?Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance, DB Insurance, KB Insurance, Hana Insurance, AXA Insurance, and Carrot Insurance?that the service would be available only until the 24th. Kakao Pay plans to maintain only banner advertisements to inform users about existing insurance products.

Alongside this, the fund investment service will undergo a complete overhaul. When selecting investment services within the Kakao Pay platform, a message indicating that Kakao Pay Securities is the sales and brokerage entity will appear first, and it will be clearly displayed at the top of the fund investment screen that Kakao Pay Securities is the service provider.

Accordingly, when selecting each fund product, users will be prompted again with a message informing them of the service provider before proceeding with the investment. The color scheme of all service screens provided by Kakao Pay Securities has been improved to distinguish them from Kakao Pay, allowing users to intuitively recognize that these pages are operated separately by Kakao Pay Securities. Fund product names have also been changed to their official titles.

Kakao Pay stated, "While extensively revamping the investment service, we have temporarily suspended some insurance services. We have improved the process so that users can clearly recognize that Kakao Pay Securities is the sales and brokerage entity throughout all fund investment procedures. The temporarily suspended insurance services will be reviewed thoroughly in accordance with the financial authorities' guidelines to ensure consumer protection, and decisions on resuming operations will be made after careful legal examination."

According to the Financial Services Commission, the Financial Consumer Protection Act, which came into effect on March 25 this year, broadly defines the scope of application to three types of business operations (direct sales of financial products, agency/brokerage sales of financial products, and financial product advisory services). Accordingly, if business activities fall under the scope of the FCPA, registration or licensing with the Financial Services Commission is required in accordance with the FCPA and other financial laws.

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