Nan Shan Life Insurance Co’s (南山人壽) labor union yesterday took to the streets to protest the insurer’s failure to improve its “Envision Project” information system, even though the Financial Supervisory Commission had ordered the company to fix it by the end of June.
Approximately 100 protesters, mainly Nan Shan sales agents and some policyholders, gathered in front of Banqiao MRT Station in New Taipei City and demanded that the regulator put more pressure on Nan Shan to fix the system.
“The new system has caused problems for many policyholders and has inconvenienced employees, as we have to spend a lot of time helping clients address those problems,” labor union president Yan Ching-lung (嚴慶龍) told reporters.
Photo: Kao Shih-ching, Taipei Times
A policyholder surnamed Lin (林) said that he has held a savings-type life insurance policy for more than 19 years, but he could lose the promised benefit payment of NT$2 million (US$63,629) as he forgot to pay the premium in September last year because he did not receive an invoice from the company.
The insurer suspended the policy in October last year without any notification and refused to let him cash it this year, citing the late payment of the premium, Lin said.
“Nan Shan should have sent the invoice to me before the payment due date... Why would I refuse to pay the premium when I was about to receive NT$2 million?” Lin said.
A sales agent surnamed Gou (郭), who sold the policy to Lin, said that it has been difficult to market Nan Shan’s insurance policies to new customers since the launch of the Envision Project, “as everyone knows that it has been troublesome for customers.”
“Most sales agents did not add any new clients between April and June,” Yan said.
As the insurance company had failed to solve the problems and has suspended the affected policies, more than 500 sales agents have lost commission and have seen their overall income fall over the past two months, he said.
The labor union is not asking the commission to impose a heavy fine on Nan Shan, as the company “does not lack money,” Yan said.
Rather it is urging the commission to require Nan Shan to fix the system as soon as possible so that sales agents can continue to make a living, he said.
The commission has asked an independent third party to examine the Envision Project and would ask the insurer to fix the system accordingly, an official surnamed Tsai (蔡) said after receiving a petition from Yan and the protesters.
“We will concentrate on protecting the benefits of policyholders,” Tsai said.
Nan Shan said in a statement that it had solved all the problems with the system and settled all outstanding disputes with its clients.
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