Research On The Government Regulation Of The Online Commercial Insurance

With the rapid development of information technology, the internet has become a new channel of sales and service for commercial insurance companies. However, there are some risks and problems along with the fast development of the online commercial insurance in China in recent years, such as reaching the regulatory boundary, under-developed service system, and lack of risk control. Some companies only focus on the growth of the sale scale, but ignore the improvement of administration and management. The destructive competition among some companies disrupts the market order, which has to be solved urgently. The current government regulation of the online commercial insurance basically follows the traditional commercial insurance regulatory, i.e. there is no regulation specifically established for the online commercial insurance. This is unable to meet the rapid growth of online commercial insurance business, and even hinders the sustainable and healthy development of commercial insurance business. Hence, the study on how to improve the government regulation of the online commercial insurance is of great significance, which can:(1) protect the rights and interests of the insurant and maintain social stability, (2) maintain commercial insurance market order, promote fair competition and reshape the commercial insurance industry image, and (3) improve the management and increasing the profitability and core competitiveness of commercial insurance companies, and narrow the gap between China developed countries in this area.This study starts from analyzing the overview and the present situation of online commercial insurance in China; the advantage, necessity, and stages are reviewed, indicating that the development of online commercial insurance is an inevitable trend at present stage and also important opportunity to improve the social image of commercial insurance industry. The key points and development direction of the regulation are pointed out after analyzing the business model, risk, and existing problems of the online commercial insurance.Then, the current regulators, regulatory methods, and regulatory system of the online commercial insurance regulation in China are analyzed, and the main problems are stated, which are:(1) lack of laws, (2) under-developed regulation concept and means, (3) lack of regulatory content, and (4) under-developed commercial insurance credit system.Next, particularly, the online commercial insurance regulation in Jiangsu province is studied, summarizing the active attempts and existing problems. Also, the experiences from US, Europe, and Japan, where the online commercial insurance begun earlier, suggesting that the moderate freedom is the prerequisite, law and policy is the foundation, social credit system is the support, and solvency regulation is the method.At last, several suggestions for improving the government regulation of online commercial insurance in China are proposed. The overall regulatory idea is to "loose the front and hold the end". The regulatory principles are "fairness, openness, innovation, and appropriateness". China Insurance Regulatory Commission should be responsible for overall regulatory of the online commercial insurance business, and each local office is responsible for the routine monitoring and inspection. In terms of specific means, the first one is to strengthen the foundation of regulatory law by improving the basic laws and supporting system, setting up a multi-level commercial insurance regulatory system, and increasing the protection of consumer rights. The second one is to optimize the regulatory pattern by improving the market access rule, strengthening the supervision of key areas, and improving the information disclosure system. The last one is to speed up the construction of the commercial insurance credit system, third-party certification system, regulatory team and other supporting regulatory systems, and hence to improve the competitiveness of the online commercial insurance industry in China and effectively protect the rights and interests of consumers.