Finance ministry finds 4 insurers flouted bancassurance regulations

Some of their typical violations include not providing consultancy directly to customers and not fully guiding customers in paperwork, they concluded Friday after months of investigating bancassurance – the sale of insurance policies through banks – across the country.

The quality of their consultation is subpar and therefore customers do not understand the product they are buying, they said.

The four companies also failed to conform to the fee framework approved by the ministry, they said.

The ministry said they would be fined to ensure transparency in the insurance market, and all fines would be made public.

The rapid growth of the bancassurance market in recent years has resulted in bumper profits for both banks and insurers, but many customers have since last year complained about being "tricked" into buying insurance when they only wanted to deposit money in banks.

The ministry also ordered the four companies to review and improve their staff training to end such violations.

The ministry will investigate 10 other insurance companies this year.