"Insurance Association Finds It Difficult to Filter Out Fraudulent Agents, Procedures Need Improvement"

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] Hwang Unha, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated on the 28th that it is difficult to verify insurance fraud agents in the registration process of insurance planners by the Life Insurance Association and the Non-life Insurance Association, and that this needs to be improved.

According to the "Insurance Planner Registration Status" submitted by the Life and Non-life Insurance Associations to the office of National Assembly member Hwang Unha, over the past 10 years, the Life Insurance Association has registered a total of 1,179,666 insurance planners, and the Non-life Insurance Association has registered a total of 1,196,219 insurance planners.

According to Article 84 of the Insurance Business Act, those who have been sentenced to a fine or higher for violating the Insurance Business Act or the Financial Consumer Protection Act, those who have been given a suspended sentence, or those who have misappropriated insurance premiums, loans, or insurance payments related to solicitation within the past three years, are prohibited from becoming insurance planners.

Therefore, the Life and Non-life Insurance Associations must verify whether the insurance planner applying for registration meets the qualifications stipulated in Article 84 of the Insurance Business Act during the registration review process.

However, the associations stated, "After distributing the 'Registration Applicant Notice' to insurance planners, if the insurance planner self-declares 'no applicable matters,' the registration proceeds without additional verification," adding, "There is much information that is difficult to verify under relevant laws, and verifying the qualifications of insurance planners takes time. Since it is necessary to process quickly for the livelihood of insurance planners, this is unavoidable."

Representative Hwang explained that he plans to propose an amendment to the Insurance Business Act, which would stipulate that in cases of confirmed insurance fraud convictions, the qualification will be immediately revoked or suspended, aiming to improve the related process.

He continued, "Despite comprehensive efforts by the National Assembly and financial authorities, the number and amount of insurance fraud cases are increasing every year," and emphasized, "There is a need to prohibit those who violate laws such as insurance fraud from registering as insurance planners."

Representative Hwang said, "There are some issues in filtering out planners who violate the Insurance Business Act due to deficiencies in related laws," and added, "We will strive to resolve these problems through amendments to the Insurance Business Act and improvements in related processes."

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