On August 12, the Insurance Association of China officially issued the Implementation Plan for Promoting the Construction of Social Credit System, launching three core mechanisms of credit grading, dishonesty punishment and compliance publicity across the entire insurance industry to make up for the shortcomings of industrial credit supervision. The plan covers all segmented tracks including life insurance, property insurance, pension insurance and insurance intermediaries. It establishes a standardized credit evaluation system targeting persistent industrial problems such as sales misleading, delayed claims settlement, false publicity and illegal intermediary operations, achieving full coverage of credit files for institutions and practitioners.
The document clarifies that a dynamic credit rating mechanism will be implemented in the follow-up period. Credit levels will be divided based on corporate compliance operation, consumer complaint rate, claim settlement efficiency and risk control management capabilities. High-credit entities will be granted preferential support for business innovation and filing approval, while dishonest entities will face business restrictions, public punishment and joint industrial constraints. Meanwhile, it will connect credit data from regulators, enterprises and consumers to build a transparent and traceable industrial credit database, eliminating hidden and normalized violations.
Industry analysts said that the insurance industry has long suffered from inconsistent service standards and weak credit constraints, leading to high rights protection costs for consumers. The implementation of this credit system will force insurance institutions to optimize service quality and standardize business behaviors, rebuilding the industry’s public credibility. In the medium and long term, standardized credit supervision will accelerate the elimination of inefficient and illegal market players, drive the insurance industry to shift from scale expansion to high-quality compliant development, and further unlock the market potential of inclusive insurance, pension insurance and catastrophe insurance.
The institutional reform will lay a solid institutional foundation for the healthy and sustainable development of China’s insurance sector, better protect consumer rights and interests, and enhance the industry’s ability to serve the real economy and social security undertakings.
