Move to strengthen best practices among insurers
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Two sets of best practices were released on Tuesday in a move to foster a sound culture and strengthen standards of conduct among insurers in Singapore.
The papers outline recommended practices in areas such as hiring, managing poor conduct of employees, and corporate governance systems, including having whistle-blower channels.
Recommendations for hiring include the assessment and selection of talent based on behavioural traits focused around high ethical standards, and conducting appropriate background checks to complement the recruitment process.
They were drawn up by the Insurance Culture and Conduct Steering Committee (ICCSC), which was jointly set up in 2019 by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), General Insurance Association of Singapore, Life Insurance Association and Singapore Reinsurers' Association.
Other areas addressed in the papers include consequence management by building greater awareness around what constitutes unethical practices, examples of poor conduct and reporting channels.
Exit management will also be worked on by ensuring a robust process to prevent breach or compromise of organisational knowledge, data and assets when employees leave, as well as gathering feedback from outgoing employees on their experience of the current culture and conduct.
The papers were developed based on extensive research carried out on best practices observed internationally, and inputs from senior practitioners within the industry, said ICCSC chairman Khoo Kah Siang. "ICCSC will continue to work with the various insurance associations in Singapore to adopt these guidelines as appropriate for their segment. These best practices papers will be reviewed in 12 months to assess the effectiveness of the recommendations for the industry."
All insurance companies are strongly encouraged to adopt the best practices, said Dr Khoo.
Mr Marcus Lim, assistant managing director of banking and insurance at MAS, said "MAS encourages all firms to take reference from this set of papers".
