HK regulators issue six-month ban to technical rep

HK regulators issue six-month ban to technical rep | Insurance Business Asia

Insurance News

Disciplinary action was merited as the representative’s conduct was unethical, the IA said

Insurance News

By
Kenneth Araullo

The Insurance Authority (IA) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) have collaborated on the enforcement of a six-month ban for a former technical representative after he fabricated a client’s signature and deceived an insurer.

The IA has issued a six-month licensing ban to Chan Ka Hey based on information gathered by the IA and the HKMA.

In the HKMA’s investigation, it was found that Chan had received a signed direct debit authorization (DDA) form from an overseas-based client requiring a direct debit to be set up to settle premium payments for an insurance policy.

Noticing that a page of the form was missing a necessary signature of the client, Chan fabricated a new DDA form by cutting out the client’s signature from the original form and pasting the client’s signature onto the new, blank one. Chan then photocopied the newly created signature pages and incorporated them as part of a new DDA form, which he completed by himself.

He then proceeded to submit the fabricated DDA form to the insurer for processing in July 2018 in an attempt to deceive the insurer. The regulators said that this was done without the overseas client’s knowledge of consent.

As a result of the HKMA’s investigation findings, the IA has deemed Chan’s actions unethical and seriously lacking integrity, rendering him unfit and improper to be a technical representative during the period in which he was serving in that capacity.

“The correct, honest and ethical course of action would have been for Mr Chan, on discovering his original mistake, to have asked the client to re-sign and complete the form again,” IA head of market conduct Peter Gregoire said. “Whilst this may have involved some embarrassment in admitting an error, this would have been the right thing to do. Integrity involves doing the right thing, despite the fact that this may be difficult. The IA stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the HKMA on the need to ensure robust ethical standards are followed across the financial services industry and looks forward to continuing close cooperation on enforcement cases going forward.”

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