MAS says insurance - disputes rare with most resolved by mediation
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FIDReC was engaged in an average of 246 mediation and adjudication cases.
Mediation or adjudication was the preferred mode of processing disputes; Singapore’s financial regulator has stated that such disputes were rare and very few cases turned up in court.
During the past three years insurance claim disputes, FIDReC has averaged annually 246 mediation and adjudication cases completed, and at the same time, the MAS was dealing with an average of 91 complaints per year that were related to the same issue.
The cases accounted for only 0.01% of total insurance claims by the companies in question.
As of MAS, it was more than 85% for the disputes mediated or adjudicated at FIDReC, which were settled by that route.
Litigation was not common, less than 0.1% of claims of the leading insurers – responsible for 80% of the local market – went to courts.
On November 4, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong, who also governs the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), replied to inquiries from Parliament, saying that insurers have the obligation to pay ipso facto the claims and treat the applicants with fairness.
He mentioned that the MAS has established clear requirements in its Guidelines on Fair Dealing and Guidelines on Risk Management Practices for Insurance Business, which define the quality of customer service and claims settlement.
If an insurer has been found deficient in the above areas, MAS may ask it to reconsider its rules, upgrade its internal systems, and compensate the consumers who have been affected.
The consumer who considers that the insurer has rejected his claim unfairly should go through the internal company procedure of handling complaints and should not fail to receive an independent and quick decision. Should the case remain unresolved, the disputing parties may resort to mediation or adjudication at the Financial Industry Disputes Resolution Centre (FIDReC), which is both independent and low-cost.
Gan stated that the statistics indicate the current dispute resolution framework is still effective in resolving insurance claim disputes in a fair and efficient manner.
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