The informatization construction and management of insurance intermediary institutions is an important development goal put forward by the national regulatory authorities for the development of insurance intermediary industry at the beginning of this century. On April 10, 2007, in order to promote the standardized and professional operation of insurance intermediary industry, the CIRC issued the Notice on Strengthening the Informatization Construction of Insurance Intermediaries (hereinafter referred to as the Notice), which put forward the requirement of "Strengthening the Informatization Construction of Insurance Intermediaries".
However, the document only puts forward preliminary development requirements around "establishing insurance intermediary business and financial management software" and "strengthening electronic management of insurance intermediary business files". With the rapid development of the domestic insurance intermediary market in recent years, the number of insurance institutions is increasing, and some insurance institutions are increasingly exposed to problems such as imperfect information governance, irregular information system construction and imperfect information security mechanism, which seriously affects the compliance operation and healthy development of insurance intermediaries.
Since 2020, the CBRC has continuously strengthened the standardized management of the insurance intermediary market, and proposed to promote the construction of a new insurance intermediary market system for the first time. The information construction and management tasks of insurance intermediaries have been put on the agenda again. 202 1, 1, 12, the CBRC issued the Measures for the Informatization Supervision of Insurance Intermediaries, which put forward comprehensive requirements for the informatization construction and management of insurance intermediaries, and clearly pointed out that insurance intermediaries that do not meet the requirements of the Measures shall not engage in insurance intermediary business.
I. Key analysis
Different from the initial development requirements of the Notice in 2007, the Measures * * * includes 6 chapters and 36 articles, which put forward comprehensive requirements for the information construction and management of insurance intermediaries. This paper focuses on the analysis of key contents such as information system, intermediary subject and management requirements.
information system
As the focus and core content of the Measures, Chapter III "Information System" puts forward clear task requirements for the informatization construction and management of insurance intermediaries: according to the business scale and development needs, establish an information system that matches business management, financial management and personnel management.
1
The business management system can record and manage business agreements, insurance business details, customer information, relevant vouchers and other business conditions.
2
The financial management system can record and manage financial general ledger, account subsidiary ledger, accounts receivable and payable, accounting statements, invoices, etc.
three
The personnel management system can record and manage the basic information, employment and resignation, employment contract, practice registration, personnel salary, training, rewards and punishments of insurance intermediary employees.
four
The data of business management, financial management and personnel management system can match and verify each other.
At the same time, the Measures also require that the information system of insurance intermediaries should realize data docking with the insurance company system and the information system related to insurance intermediary supervision.
1
Through technical means to achieve system interoperability, business interconnection and data docking with cooperative insurance companies.
2
It can generate data files that meet the regulatory requirements, and realize data docking with insurance intermediary supervision related information systems through technical means.
Intermediary subject
One of the highlights of the Measures is to clarify the intermediary subjects faced by information construction management, including both insurance professional intermediaries and insurance part-time institutions. This means that insurance institutions such as 4S shops and travel agencies will be required to establish their own information systems such as business management, financial management and personnel management, just like professional insurance agencies, insurance brokers and insurance assessment agencies, and meet other relevant information construction management requirements in the Measures.
Previously, due to the large number, wide distribution, complex industry, and the coverage of main business finance and business channels, it was very difficult for both normal market supervision and dynamic inspection, which became a major problem in industry management. After the promulgation of the "Measures", the person in charge of the relevant departments clearly pointed out in answering a reporter's question that although part-time institutions only operate insurance agency business, the business links and personal information of consumers involved in their agency activities are basically the same as those of professional institutions, and small and medium-sized part-time institutions are often not as standardized as professional institutions in insurance agency business management, financial management and employee management, so it is necessary to strengthen supervision. Therefore, part-time institutions should keep consistent information requirements with professional institutions in insurance agency business.
Management requirements
1. Independence and integrity
The Measures stipulate that the important information mechanisms, facilities and management of insurance intermediaries should be independent and complete, effectively isolated from the related facilities of affiliated enterprises, strictly regulate the access, use, transmission and reproduction of information systems and data, and must not disclose data information such as insurance policies and personal information to affiliated enterprises.
2. Data docking
According to the Measures, on the one hand, the information system of insurance intermediaries should be able to record financial, business and personnel information in a timely, complete and accurate manner, and realize system interoperability, business interconnection and data docking with cooperative insurance companies; On the other hand, it can generate data files that meet the regulatory requirements, and realize data docking with insurance intermediary supervision related information systems through technical means.
3. Supervision and enforcement
According to the requirements of the Measures, the CBRC authorizes all dispatched offices to conduct daily supervision, guidance and inspection on the informatization work of insurance intermediaries, and insurance intermediaries should report regulatory matters and submit regulatory data to the CBRC and its dispatched offices in a timely manner through the information system related to insurance intermediary supervision according to regulatory requirements. Insurance institutions that do not meet the requirements of the Measures shall not engage in insurance intermediary business.
Of course, the Measures set aside a one-year transitional rectification period for the informatization construction of insurance intermediaries, and insurance intermediaries should complete the rectification and submit a report to the regulatory authorities within one year from the date of implementation of the Measures.
Second, the industry impact
For a long time, there have been many market development problems in China's insurance intermediary market, such as a large number of intermediaries, uneven management level, large mobility of employees, and irregular operation of part-time agents. The "Measures" put forward comprehensive information construction requirements for insurance intermediaries and part-time agencies, invisibly improved the entry threshold and supervision requirements of insurance intermediaries, realized a new round of survival of the fittest in the insurance intermediary market, further standardized the operating order of the insurance intermediary market, and improved the operating level and service quality of insurance intermediaries.
Specifically, among more than 2,600 professional insurance intermediaries and more than 32,000 part-time insurance agencies in China, only a few institutions have realized the system docking with insurance companies, and most insurance intermediaries, especially part-time insurance agencies, still use traditional offline manual methods such as mail and social media. Objectively speaking, the research and development cost of information system can reach one million yuan at a time, which is a heavy business challenge for small and medium-sized insurance intermediaries.
Of course, although it is proposed in the Measures that cooperative development, customized development, outsourcing development and purchasing cloud services can be used to realize the task of information system construction, judging from the long-term development requirements of the document content for the informatization construction of insurance intermediaries-"improving independent research and development capabilities and gradually reducing dependence on outsourcing service providers", independent information systems will become the only way for the informatization development of professional insurance intermediaries in the future. Therefore, the Measures actually set a high business threshold for many insurance intermediaries and part-time agencies, which intensified the competition in the insurance intermediary market. By eliminating a number of "small but chaotic" market operators, we will further standardize the market order of insurance intermediaries and improve their operating level and service quality.
In addition, the "information system construction" requires insurance intermediaries and insurance companies to realize system interoperability, business interconnection and data docking, and at the same time generate data files that meet the regulatory requirements, and carry out data docking with the insurance intermediary regulatory information system, which solves the problems of irregular, opaque and inaccurate business information interaction, business process management and business supervision data reporting of some insurance intermediaries in the past, and is conducive to the standardization, transparency and traceability of business information interaction between insurance intermediaries and insurance companies.