The Financial Services Commission (the ″FSC″) announced a plan to ease regulations on solicitation of insurance, proposing amendments to the Enforcement Decree of the Insurance Business Act (the ″IBA″) and Insurance Business Supervisory Regulations (the ″IBSR″) on May 17, 2021.  The key aspects of the plan are as follows:  

1.   Solicitation of Insurance

• The amendment will allow insurance solicitors who solicit insurance in person to use telephone if telemarketing safeguards, such as systems to record the call and ensure that important matters are explained, are in place. 

• When subscribing for insurance through a mobile phone, customers will be allowed to enter their signature only once at the beginning of the subscription process and subscribe to the insurance by clicking the signature box upon confirming the important matters of the contract. 

2.   Telemarketing

• The amendment will allow insurance solicitors to use AI-based voice bots to perform the duty of explanation, using text-to-speech technology, when telemarketing insurance.  

  • However, customers must be able to control the explanation speed and volume, and insurance solicitors must be able to respond immediately when customers ask a question.

• The amendment will allow a hybrid-type solicitation whereby telemarketers send an insurance application form and product description via mobile phone and obtain electronic signatures from customers to execute the insurance contract.  

3.   Monitoring of Insurance Sales

• The amendment will allow the use of AI-based voice bots for quality assurance calls (i.e., Happy Call), and enable quality assurance check via email or text message for all insurance products if customers wish to do so.  

  • However, phone-based quality assurance calls must be used for elderly customers aged 65 and above.

4.   Other Matters to Review

• The FSC will consider allowing the use of digital technology to explain standardized insurance sales scripts after operating a regulatory sandbox. 

• The FSC will review measures to resolve inconveniences caused by the excessive volume of standardized insurance sales scripts in telemarketing. 

The FSC plans to implement this plan through the legislative process in the third quarter of 2021 and implement measures that do not require legislative change in the first half of 2021.  

[Korean version]