(Image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Insurance agencies and planners have voiced strong opposition to big tech companies’ entry into the insurance sales business, criticizing it as an infringement of their commercial rights.
The Insurance Agency Association and the Labor Union Solidarity for Insurance Planners held a joint press conference in front of the presidential office in Yongsan in central Seoul on Monday and strongly opposed the move to enable online platforms such as Naver, Kakao and Toss to enter the insurance agency business.
The association claimed that financial authorities have been pushing to enable online platforms to enter the insurance agency business by employing the expedient of designating them as innovative financial services without acquiring procedural legitimacies such as the sufficient collection of opinions from interested parties.
The association pointed out that if insurance policy purchases become possible through online platforms, to which most people are exposed, a commission would be levied on the use of the platforms.
Compared to the use of direct channels or online insurance companies, it would rather harm consumer benefits.
The association stressed that if online platforms are allowed to sell insurance, their superior bargaining position would infringe the commercial rights of insurance planners while eroding the overall insurance market.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
