General Insurance Association Opens Integrated Civil Complaint Support Center to Enhance Expertise in Handling Insurance Complaints

[Financial News] The General Insurance Association of Korea has opened an Integrated Civil Complaint Support Center to improve the expertise and efficiency of insurance complaint handling. The center consolidates the support system so that complaints transferred from the Financial Supervisory Service, insurance enrollment inquiries, and matters involving insurance sales representatives can be handled in one place.
The General Insurance Association of Korea announced on the 2nd that it had opened the Integrated Civil Complaint Support Center at Geumcheon Lotte Tower on Beotkkot-ro in Geumcheon-gu, Seoul.
The Integrated Civil Complaint Support Center was established to professionally handle insurance complaints transferred from the Financial Supervisory Service for processing by the association, as well as insurance-related complaints submitted through e-People and other channels. It also handles insurance enrollment inquiries and the direct removal of insurance sales representatives from the registry.
Since July, the association has handled complaints transferred from the Financial Supervisory Service, beginning with complaints related to fault ratios in automobile accidents. Starting in September, it plans to gradually expand the scope to include complaints about insurance agents’ commissions and appointment or dismissal issues, as well as discourteous service and other inconveniences involving insurance company employees.
From July 6 to August 26, before the Integrated Civil Complaint Support Center officially opened, a total of 211 complaints transferred from the Financial Supervisory Service to the association and subject to its processing were recorded. Of these, 130 cases, or 61.6%, had been completed, while 81 cases, or 38.4%, were still being processed.
The average processing time for completed complaints was approximately 11.6 days. This figure includes periods that are not normally counted as part of the processing time, such as voluntary mediation, fact-finding inquiries, and the supplementation of complaint documents.
The association plans to use the center to strengthen the expertise and coordination of complaint-handling operations and resolve consumer inconveniences more quickly. In particular, it will systematically analyze cases accumulated during the complaint-handling process to identify recurring consumer problems and use the findings to improve complaint handling and consumer protection efforts.
The association also expanded the number of permanent testing rooms for the insurance planner qualification exam. With three permanent testing rooms now available at the center, the number of people who can take the exam simultaneously during each session has increased by approximately 50%, from 220 to 330. As a result, the maximum number of test takers per day has risen by 550, from 1,100 to 1,650.
Lee Byung-rae, chairman of the General Insurance Association of Korea, said, "The opening of the Integrated Civil Complaint Support Center has established a foundation for significantly enhancing the expertise and efficiency of insurance complaint handling and more faithfully fulfilling our social role of protecting consumers." He added, "We will closely examine inconveniences identified at complaint-handling sites and actively reflect them in operational improvements." 

[email protected] Hong Ye-ji Reporter