2024 AmCham DEIA Celebration Spring Happy Hour – Celebrating Life & Diversity
2024 AmCham DEIA Celebration Spring Happy Hour – Celebrating Life & Diversity
AmCham Happy Hour
Advances in technology and communications have led to increasing market globalization. To keep pace with the rapidly changes occurring in this international digital age, Taiwan needs to continue to modernize its processes and practices for acquiring and servicing insurance products. In this year’s paper, the Committee continues to focus on narrowing the protection insurance gap, strengthening the financial stability of the industry, reviewing and improving the legacy norms and practices, and adopting a more risk-based approach in governance.
Taiwan is in a tremendous position to make significant strides in these areas, firmly establishing itself as a regional or even global leader. Doing so would provide a more stable and consumer-oriented market in Taiwan, enabling all participants to thrive. We must therefore have the courage to embrace change and be willing to create an environment that promotes innovation and also helps to manage the risks. Strong engagement between industry and government is critical to reaching these goals. When setting up new rules to supervise the insurance/reinsurance industry, we should also observe international market practices, creating a healthier market environment without deviating significantly from such practices.
As an industry, we are committed to working closely with the Insurance Bureau (IB) and the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), and we appreciate the clear desire of the IB and FSC to reciprocate. To make progress, we believe it is important to set out priorities that we can all embrace, and then to define short-term objectives that we can work toward together. The Committee is thankful for the continuing commitment the government has demonstrated to work directly with us, especially the IB, FSC and the National Development Council (NDC) through quarterly engagement meetings. We very much look forward to working with the government to realize the suggestions put forward in this year’s White Paper.
There was substantial progress in 2019. The work that remains is outlined in our 2020 Priorities below.
Suggestion 1. Provide simple, innovative solutions to protect the Taiwanese people.
1.1 Provide consumers with access to more affordable term insurance. Taiwanese consumers are unable to purchase the most affordable term insurance, since domestic regulations require a forced savings component (represented as a Cash Surrender Value which insurers must reserve and price for). This is not the practice in most advanced countries. For example, Japan, Korea, and the U.S. allow term insurance with no cash surrender value if certain criteria are met.
Revising the Insurance Act to enable pure term insurance options would be the most sensible first step to increase insurance protection for Taiwan’s consumers. It will also help the industry meet the FSC’s goal of increasing the amount of protection in Taiwan without exacerbating the investment risks that insurers assume to provide such protection.
Specifically, we propose amending Article 119 of the Insurance Act to allow insurance companies to develop more affordable, pure term life insurance (that is, without a required cash surrender value). This change will encourage consumer-oriented product innovation and strengthen Taiwan’s social safety net.
1.2 Allow long-term premium payment accident & health (A&H) riders on investment-link products (ILPs). Under prevailing market practice, all riders attached to ILPs are in the form of one-year renewable term (YRT) A&H riders, even though the regulations do not clearly set forth such a restriction (see Article 150 of the “Notice Items of Product Inspection for the Life Insurance Industry”). Such practice is not in the best interests of either consumers or insurance companies considering that long-term A&H riders can better serve the target customers’ needs and better help the insurance companies to increase the persistency rate and incentivize sales than can 1 YRT A&H riders. We recommend that the government encourage insurers to adopt long-term A&H riders for the following reasons:
At the same time, the following conditions must also apply in order to promote long-term premium payment A&H riders:
1.3 Increase online insurance health-product types and relax online claims requirements. Under current e-commerce regulations for health products, only one-year reimbursement products can be sold online, and end-to-end online claims processing is available only for death benefits. To meet customers’ diverse insurance needs as well as to prevent moral hazard, health products with no death benefits, such as short-term surgical insurance and cancer insurance with fixed or low sum assured, should be available online. In addition, to facilitate the claims process, we recommend that the end-to-end online claims process should also be applicable to low-sum-assured applications when an insurance company’s risk controls are in place.
Suggestion 2: Promote sound asset/liability & investment management practices and safeguard industry solvency.
Promoting sound asset/liability and investment and risk management practices is crucial to ensuring the soundness of the insurance industry as a whole by enabling well-thought-out and carefully managed investment and risk-management strategies. We believe that Taiwan-regulated insurers should have the same access to and benefits from more advanced regulation of investment, hedging, and risk management capabilities as is available in other modern insurance markets. We hope to see more progress toward this end in the coming year.
2.1 Permit insurance enterprises to exclude all foreign investments backing foreign-currency-denominated traditional products from calculation of the limit on the total amount of foreign investment.
2.2 Further relax foreign investment limits on a foreign insurer’s Taiwan branch or subsidiary. Foreign insurers have distinctive investment policies, asset allocation strategies, and global risk exposure compared to local insurers. Particularly, foreign insurers operating in Taiwan tend to focus on selling life insurance products denominated in foreign currencies in which they have a competitive advantage, and therefore need corresponding foreign investment assets/foreign currencies to support the relevant liabilities. To mitigate foreign insurers’ currency risk exposure as well as to align with their respective group’s global investment policies and asset allocation strategies, we propose that the government further relax foreign investment restrictions such as the following:
Suggestion 3: Adopt different management and control policies according to the sales channel and type of company.
3.1 Differentiate regulations and surveillance standards in accordance with the size of the insurer. Foreign insurers generally maintain a relatively smaller scale of operations (in the form of either a subsidiary or a branch), while local insurance companies have significantly greater size. Disregarding such differences, the regulator tends to impose similar compliance obligations on both groups and apply the same penalty (NT$600,000) for each violation. The undifferentiated regulation and surveillance standards hamper fair competition in the Taiwan insurance market and place undue burdens on foreign insurers. As an initiative to level the playing field, we propose that the regulator consider setting differentiated standards in assessing penalties and adjust the “customer complaint ratio rankings” in proportion to the insurer’s size, capital, total number of policyholders, and other quantitative factors relating to its operations in Taiwan. Life insurers could accordingly be classified into two or three groups.
Specifically, we propose amending the relevant regulations as follows:
3.2 Differentiate sales channels through proper rules. Different sales channels pose difference levels of risks to insurance companies. Frequent misconduct in one sales channel, such as misappropriation of customers’ funds or unauthorized transactions for customers in the face-to-face channel, may very well not be equally risky in other channels like telemarketing or e-commerce. Requesting insurance companies to set up the same strength of internal control mechanism for all sales channels is impractical considering the different level of risks they face. In fact, applying stringent internal controls to less risky sales would adversely increase the company’s compliance cost, obstruct the sound development of business, and in turn cause inconvenience for customers in securing timely insurance protection.
We propose that insurance companies be authorized to apply internal control rules corresponding to the risks they face in different sales channels.
Suggestion 4: Adopt a risk-based approach for regulation and governance.
Risk-Based Supervision (RBS) is gradually becoming the dominant approach to regulatory supervision of financial institutions around the world. RBS adopts a regulatory emphasis of “focusing on what matters” – assessing the degree of risk in the company’s business operations and determining how to reduce the risk as required. In the 2015 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Guidance for a risk-based approach, it is recommended that financial institutions assessed by supervisors as having higher risk for ML/TF (money laundering/terrorist financing) should be subject to closer supervision. Likewise, insurance companies assessed as having higher risk in terms of market conduct or business models should be subject to higher supervision and inspection.
To achieve effective supervision, we recommend that regulations for internal controls be imposed through a risk-based approach, allowing insurance companies to take corresponding mitigating action based on the risks they face and allowing the regulator to conduct risk-based supervision and inspection.
科技與通訊的發展引領市場的全球化。為跟上國際化、數位化時代快速變遷的腳步,台灣保險產品的購買與服務相關流程與實務,也亟須繼續推動現代化。保險委員會在本年度的白皮書中繼續聚焦於縮小保障型商品的缺口、促進保險業財務穩定、回顧並優化保險固有制度及實務作業,並且期待在採取更走向風險基礎的監理模式。
台灣正站在一個絕佳的立足點上,能夠朝上述面向大步邁進,堅定其成為區域甚至全球領導者的地位。我們建議能夠創造一個更穩定與消費者導向的環境,有利於所有參與者的繁榮興盛。因此我們必須有勇氣去擁抱改變,並願意去創造一個同時獎勵創新和著重風險管理的場域。產業和政府的強大配合能力,將對達成此目標發揮關鍵性作用。當制定監理保險與再保行業的新法規時,我們亦應兼顧國際市場實務,以創造更健康且不偏離國際趨勢的市場環境。
保險業致力於與保險局和金融監督管理委員會(金管會) 緊密合作,我們也感謝保險局和金管會明確的善意回應。我們相信設立一致的優先順序、定義可以一起努力的短程目標將更為有效。保險委員會感謝政府展現與業者一起向前努力的高度意願,尤其是保險局、金管會以及國家發展委員會(國發會) 每季度的會議。我們高度期待未來與政府一起攜手向前,逐一實現今年白皮書所列的各項建言。
2019年已經有實質的進展。尚待完成的工作將列在下列2020年優先工作清單。
建議一:以簡易且創新的方式提供台灣民眾保障
1.1 提供台灣消費者保費更低廉的定期保險
台灣消費者無法購買保費負擔最輕的定期保險,因為國內法規強制要求產品必須包含儲蓄元素(即保險公司必須儲備解約金並為其訂價),這與日本、韓國、美國等先進國家實務相異;在上述國家若符合某些條件,允許定期保險得不給付解約金。
建議修訂《保險法》第119條,讓保險業者開發價格更低廉的純定期壽險(即不須給付解約金)。這項法規修訂將鼓勵消費者導向商品的創新,並強化台灣的社會安全網。
1.2 允許變額萬能壽險商品得附加長年期意外險及健康險(以下簡稱「A & H」) 附約
依現行保險市場實務,所有附加於投資型保險商品之附約均為一年期可續保之A&H定期險,即使法令並沒有明確的限制(參「人身保險商品審查應注意事項」第150條)。但此作法對於消費者或保險公司而言,均不符合其最佳利益,因為長年期A&H附約相較於一年期可續保之A&H定期險附約,顯然更能滿足目標消費客群的需求,同時有助於保險公司提高保單之持續率。基於以下理由,我們建議政府應該允許保險公司採用長年期A&H附約:
同時,我們建議政府在鼓勵採用長年期A&H附約時,配套採取以下前提條件:
長年期A&H附約應收取「附約的保險費」而非自分離帳戶管理資產中扣除「危險保費」,因為額外收取附約的保險費將有助於維持變額萬能壽險有效的期間,尤其是2020年7月1日以後門檻法則提高後,以利提供穩定的退休金收入(配息收入)來源。
1.3 增加可為網路投保之醫療型保險商品類型並開放線上理賠
依據現行「保險業辦理電子商務應注意事項」規定,網路投保僅得銷售一年期實支實付型之健康保險,而網路保險服務僅開放線上辦理身故保險金 理賠申請。為滿足客戶多元保險商品需求並同時避免道德危險,本委員會建議開放網路投保得銷售未含死亡給付之健康保險,例如:短年期定額或較低額度之手術健康保險及癌症健康保險。此外,為加速理賠申請流程,
建議保險公司得於適當風險控管情況下,辦理較低金額之線上理賠申請作業。
建議二:推動完備的資產負債管理、投資及風險管理實務作法,縝密規劃並管理投資、制訂風險管理策略
推動完備的資產負債管理、投資及風險管理實務作法,對於整體保險業的健全極為重要。這將需仰賴深思熟慮且細緻的投資及風險管理策略。
我們建議可參酌其他地區的保險市場,採取更先進及有彈性的投資、避險、及風險管理的法規,相信這將有利於整個市場的發展。我們希望在未來一年在此方面取得更多進展。
2.1 允許保險業者於計算整體國外投資限額時,得排除全部外幣傳統型保險產品之國外投資
相較於新台幣傳統型保險產品,外幣傳統型保險產品可達成更加適當的資產負債管理,其原因包括無需承擔匯率風險、較多的優良投資工具可供選擇及較高的市場流動性,然而目前保險業銷售外幣傳統型保險產品的總量受到國外投資管理辦法的限制,若能移除該限制將可大幅提升保險業資產負債管理的完善程度。
此外,藉由放寬國外投資額度,允許保險業者更積極參與成熟、多元且高流動性的國際資本市場,亦有助於業者積極創新研發新產品,滿足消費者之多元需求。
2.2 進一步放寬外國保險業在台分公司或子公司之國外投資上限
外國保險業和本土保險業之投資政策、資產配置策略及全球風險布局等各方面均有顯著區隔,特別是在台灣營運之外國保險業傾向於聚焦銷售以外幣計價之人壽保險商品,因其較具競爭優勢,故需求相對應的國外投資資產/外幣資產以支應相關保險責任。為減輕外國保險業之外幣曝險部位,並和相關集團採取一致性的全球投資政策及資產配置策略,我們建議政府應進一步放寬其國外投資上限,舉例如下:
建議三:依據銷售通路以及公司型態採取不同的管理與控制政策
3.1 依據保險公司之資產規模不同而採取差異化之法令規範及監管標準
外國保險業在台灣之營業規模通常較小(不論其以台灣子公司或分公司之型態營運),但本土保險公司之規模顯然較大,主管機關往往忽略了彼此差異,而對這兩類不同性質之保險業者課予相同之法令遵循義務,並於每次違規時處以相同數額之罰鍰(如新台幣60萬)。此類無差異之法令規範與監管標準,將阻礙台灣保險市場之公平競爭秩序且對外國保險業課予不合理之沉重負擔。為創造公平的競爭環境,我們建議主管機關於決定裁罰金額或保戶申訴率排名時,應依比例將各保險業之規模、資本額、保戶數目、及其他與在台營運相關之量化指標均納入裁量標準。壽險業可依據前述量化指標區分為兩到三個組別進行評比。
具體而言,我們建議相關法令修訂如下:
3.2 透過適當的規則,管理不同之行銷通路
不同的行銷通路帶給保險公司不同程度的風險。在特定行銷通路中經常會發生不當行為,例如在面銷通路中常發生的盜用客戶資金,或進行未經客戶授權的交易等行為,在電話行銷或電子商務的通路中可能就無如此高的風險。考量到保險公司可能面臨的風險高低不等,要求保險公司為所有行銷通路建立相同的內部控制機制不切實際。實際上,對風險較小的行銷通路採行嚴格的內部控制措施,將相反地增加公司的法令遵循成本,阻礙保險業務的健康發展,並會造成客戶不便,使其無法及時獲得保險保障。
我們建議授權保險公司得依據其在不同行銷通路中面臨的風險,採取相對應的內部控制措施。
建議四:採行風險基礎的監理和治理
風險基礎監理(RBS)逐漸成為全球金融機構監理的主要方法。風險基礎監理採取「專注於重要事項」的監理重點–評估公司業務運營中的風險程度,並確定如何根據需要降低風險。在2015年防制洗錢金融行動小組(FATF)的風險基礎方法指南中,即建議了被監理機構評估為具有洗錢/資助恐怖主義(ML/TF)風險較高的金融機構應接受更嚴格的監理。同樣地,若保險公司就其市場行為或商業模式被評估為具有較高風險者也應接受更高的監督和檢查。
為了實現有效的監理,我們建議透過以風險為基礎之方式來制定內部控制法規,使保險公司可以根據其所面臨的風險採取相應的抵減措施,並允許監理機構進行以風險為基礎的監理和檢查。