In the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, the development of the insurance market, increasing diversity of products and rising number of intermediaries has grown significantly.
As a result, the region’s newly revised Insurance Intermediary Business Ordinance, meant to further safeguard customers’ rights, has taken effect.
According to the region’s insurance regulator, the Monetary and Foreign Exchange Authority of Macau, important amendments in the Insurance Intermediary Business Ordinance include:
- Raising the entry and licensing requirements for insurance intermediaries, such as specifying the minimum educational qualifications required for applicants and requiring them to pass the suitability assessment.
- Strengthening supervision of insurance intermediary business and introducing the ‘appointing principal’ mechanism to clarify that insurers and corporate insurance intermediaries, as principals of intermediaries, must conduct due diligence on appointed intermediaries and implement ongoing conduct management and oversight.
- Increasing penalties for violations, including the raising of fines and imposing additional sanctions such as closure of business premises, the prohibition of engaging in insurance intermediary business, public reprimands and disclosure of administrative penalty decisions.