More initiatives to be introduced to benefit policyholders, says LIA

THE Life Insurance Association (LIA) Singapore on Friday said more initiatives will be introduced "in due course" including the yield to maturity (YTM) to be presented in the benefit illustration to give policyholders "a sense of the expected yield on their participating policies".

The assurance that the association will continue to "boost communication, transparency and standards" to drive fair dealing outcomes, follows data released by the Financial Industry Disputes Resolution Centre Ltd (Fidrec) on Thursday.

Fidrec's figures showed that the number of complaints filed and handled against life insurers, banks and finance companies has gone up year on year.

Between July 2014 and June 2015, more than half of the 903 complaints (53.7 per cent) were centred on financial institutions' practices and policies - the first time in 10 years. The complaints here were about pricing policies, disputes on liability and claim amount awarded, policy values and investment returns.

But in the past decade, market conduct issues - inappropriate advice, misrepresentation and aggressive sales tactics - continued to dominate the bulk of the complaints.

On Friday, LIA said in a statement that more than seven in 10 cases have been resolved by mediation and there has also been an overall decline in both the number and proportion of pending cases this year.

It added that member companies are constantly seeking to strengthen their sales and service standards.