The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday passed the first-reading of a revision to Article 107 of the Insurance Law (保險法), which currently states that only policyholders older than 14 are entitled to death benefits.
As the law stands, if a policyholder under the age of 14 dies in an accident, their parents or beneficiaries are to be reimbursed only for paid premiums plus interest — rather than death benefits — and receive funeral subsidies capped at NT$2 million (US$60,837) per person.
The revision would raise the age threshold to 15.
Some legislators threw their support behind calls for an end to policies they said could lead to death benefits becoming a motive for foul play or fraud, while other legislators said the funeral subsidies should be lowered.
The committee cited the minimum working age for changing the age threshold to 15.
In other developments, the Finance Committee yesterday raised fresh concerns about potential investment disputes arising from more insurance policies and financial products being sold via bancassurance channels.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) yesterday urged the Financial Supervisory Commission to require all bank salespersons selling structured notes or other investment instruments to tape record conversations with buyers or investors to avoid disputes.
In response, FSC Chairman Sean Chen (陳冲) said the commission would address the issue of financial disputes by proposing a review mechanism in August.
Chen said he believed that it would be feasible for banks to keep audio records of sales processes.
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