The Philippines Insurance Commission (IC) has published a set of rules covering insurance Web aggregators in a move to supervise and monitor the sector.
Under Circular Letter 2018-51 issued last week, an insurance Web aggregator is an Internet-based platform that accumulates and provides insurance-policy quotations from various insurance companies based on a predetermined set of needs specified by the prospective client from which it can choose, reports BusinessMirror.
Insurance Commissioner Dennis B Funa said, “And now, with the development and existence of Web aggregators for insurance products, we saw the need to require them to register with us and to put in place regulatory requirements aimed at protecting the insuring public.”
The IC pointed out that the goal of the regulation is to supervise and monitor an aggregator as an insurance intermediary that maintains a website for providing insurance prospects for price comparison and information on products of different insurers and other related matters.
The circular requires applicants to submit their respective business model and system framework or module of operation and copies of their agreement with insurance providers, among others.
The new rules require both the insurance aggregator and the insurance company to incorporate in their agreement several provisions mandated by the IC aimed at protecting the interests of the public.
In order to clearly identify and distinguish an insurance Web aggregator, the IC prohibits an aggregator from engaging in any business other than the objective of Web-based aggregation. The new regulation prohibits an insurance aggregator from engaging in acts similar to that of an insurance agent or insurance broker.
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Insurance Web aggregators can only display authentic product information, which shall be based solely on information received from insurance companies.
In addition, insurance aggregators can only use factual and unbiased data on their websites and are required to ensure that the information displayed is up to date and reflects the true features of the products.
At present, existing Web-based insurance aggregators include: MoneyMax.ph; eCompareMo.com; DirectLink; iChoose.ph; GoBear; MoneyMonster.ph; and Citinsure, among others.
In 2014, and in view of the rising popularity of electronic commerce, the Commission promulgated the Guidelines on Electronic Commerce of Insurance Products, which is the uniform framework governing the online solicitation of insurance products by industry players. This placed online sales of insurance products within the regulation and supervision of the IC.
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