Chapter V
INSURANCE AGENTS AND INSURANCE BROKERS
SECTION 1. INSURANCE AGENTS
Article 51. Insurance agent commission
1. An insurer or branch of foreign non-life insurer shall pay insurance agent commissions to the insurance agent in accordance with Clause 3 of this Article after the insurance agent provides services to the insurer or foreign non-life insurance branch.
2. Insurers and branches of foreign non-life insurers, based on Clause 3 of this Article and their specific conditions and characteristics, develop regulations for paying insurance agent commissions for uniform and public application.
3. The maximum insurance agent commission rate payable on the actual insurance premium collected from each insurance policy that the insurer or foreign non-life insurance branch pays to the insurance agent is implemented as follows (except for cases stipulated in Clause 3.4 of this Clause):
3.1. Maximum insurance agent commission rates for non-life insurance policies:
|
No.
|
Insurance type
|
Maximum insurance agent commission rate (%)
|
|
1
|
Property insurance
|
5
|
|
2
|
Cargo insurance
|
10
|
|
3
|
Hull and liability insurance of shipowners for seagoing vessels
|
5
|
|
4
|
Hull and liability insurance of shipowners (except seagoing vessels
|
15
|
|
5
|
Liability insurance
|
5
|
|
6
|
Aviation insurance
|
0,5
|
|
7
|
Motor vehicle insurance (excluding motor vehicle liability insurance)
|
10
|
|
8
|
Fire insurance
|
10
|
|
9
|
Credit and financial risk insurance
|
10
|
|
10
|
Other damage insurance
|
10
|
|
11
|
Agricultural insurance
|
20
|
|
12
|
Guarantee insurance
|
10
|
Maximum insurance agent commission rate for compulsory insurance:
|
No.
|
Compulsory insurance
|
Maximum insurance agent commission rate (%)
|
|
1
|
Compulsory liability insurance of motor vehicle owners
|
5
|
|
2
|
Compulsory liability insurance of motorcycle and moped owners
|
20
|
|
3
|
Compulsory fire insurance
|
5
|
|
4
|
Compulsory construction insurance during construction
|
5
|
|
5
|
Compulsory professional liability insurance of construction consultancy
|
5
|
|
6
|
Compulsory third-party liability insurance of construction activities
|
5
|
|
7
|
Compulsory insurance for construction workers working on construction sites
|
5
|
- The insurance agent commissions for full coverage insurance policies are calculated by the total insurance agent commissions of each insurance type in the full coverage insurance policies.
3.2. Maximum insurance agent commission rates for life insurance policies:
a) As for individual life insurance policies:
The maximum insurance agent commission rates are applied to the following insurance types:
- For insurance policies issued before July 1, 2024, the maximum insurance agent commission rates are as follows:
|
Insurance type
|
Maximum insurance agent commission rate (%)
|
|
Payment in installments
|
Payment in lump sum
|
|
Policy first year
|
Policy second year
|
Policy following years
|
|
1. Term life insurance
|
40
|
20
|
15
|
15
|
|
2. Pure endowment insurance
- Term of insurance from 10 years or less
|
15
20
|
10
10
|
5
5
|
5
5
|
|
- Term of insurance over 10 years
|
|
|
|
|
|
3. Endowment insurance:
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Term of insurance from 10 years or less
|
25
40
|
7
10
|
5
10
|
5
7
|
|
- Term of insurance over 10 years
|
|
|
|
|
|
4. Whole life insurance
|
30
|
20
|
15
|
10
|
|
5. Annuities
|
25
|
10
|
7
|
7
|
|
6. Universal life insurance
|
|
|
|
|
|
10 years or less
|
25
|
7
|
5
|
5
|
|
Over 10 years
|
40
|
10
|
10
|
7
|
|
7. Unit-linked insurance
|
40
|
10
|
10
|
7
|
- For insurance policies issued before July 1, 2024, the maximum insurance agent commission rates are as follows:
+ For insurance policies with a term of 1 year or less and 1 year of annual renewal: 20%
+ For insurance policies over 1 year:
|
Insurance type
|
Maximum insurance agent commission rate (%)
|
|
Payment in installments
|
Payment in lump sum
|
|
Policy first year
|
Policy second year
|
Policy following years
|
|
1. Term life insurance, whole life insurance
|
40
|
20
|
15
|
15
|
|
2. Pure endowment insurance, annuities, endowment insurance:
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Term of insurance from 10 years or less
|
25
|
7
|
5
|
5
|
|
- Term of insurance over 10 years
|
30
|
20
|
10
|
7
|
|
3. Universal life insurance, unit-link insurance
|
30
|
20
|
10
|
7
|
b) Insurance agent commission for retirement insurance policies: 3% of total insurance premium;
c) As for group life insurance policies: The maximum insurance agent commission rate is equal to 50% of the corresponding rates applicable to individual life insurance policies of the same type.
3.3. Maximum insurance agent commission rates for health insurance policies: 20%.
3.4. As for insurance products that have separate written instructions, follow that separate written instructions.
4. In case a mutual microinsurer provides microinsurance to its members through a microinsurance agent, the maximum insurance agent commission rate is 10% of the actual premium collected for each insurance policy.
Article 52. Bonuses and support for insurance agents and other benefits as agreed in the insurance agent contract
1. Bonuses and support for insurance agents and other benefits as agreed in the agency contracts of non-life insurers and branches of foreign non-life insurers are provided as follows:
a) As for health insurance: Total bonuses, support, and other benefits of insurance agents do not exceed 100% of the insurance agent commission of all health insurance policies marketed in the fiscal year;
b) As for non-life insurance: Total bonuses, support, and other benefits of insurance agents do not exceed 50% of the insurance agent commission of all non-life insurance policies marketed in the fiscal year.
2. Bonuses and support for insurance agents and other benefits as agreed in the agent contracts of life insurers and health insurers are provided as follows:
a) For agents who market new insurance policies: Total bonuses, support, and other benefits of insurance agents in each fiscal year do not exceed 20% of the actual insurance premium collected from insurance policies with a term of 1 year or less and renewable annually, and 30% of the actual first-year insurance premium collected from insurance policies with a term of more than 1 year.
b) For agents who service renewed insurance policies with a term of more than 1 year: Total bonuses, support, and other benefits of insurance agents in each fiscal year do not exceed 7% of the actual renewed insurance premium collected in the fiscal year.
3. Life insurers that currently pay agent commissions, support, and other benefits to agents at a rate higher than the rate prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article shall be responsible for reviewing, building a roadmap, and implementing a plan to reduce the rate of payment of the above-mentioned amounts in each fiscal year and completing the implementation of the plan by no later than December 31, 2025.
4. The Board of Directors (Board of Members) of the life insurer shall be responsible for approving the plan prescribed in Clause 3 of this Article before December 31, 2023, and for monitoring and supervising the roadmap and plan.
Article 53. Provision of insurance products through insurance agents
1. During the process of advising on insurance products, insurance agents or employees of a corporate insurance agent must provide the policyholder with all accurate information about the insurance product, using the materials provided by the insurer or foreign non-life insurance branch. Insurance agents or employees of a corporate insurance agent may not build their own product brochures or sales illustrations, or arbitrarily change the content of the product brochures or sales illustrations provided by the insurer or foreign non-life insurance branch.
2. When providing investment-linked insurance products, individual insurance agents or employees of a corporate insurance agent must comply with the following regulations:
a) Collect information and complete the documents specified in point b of clause 2 of Article 30 of this Circular;
b) Inform the policyholder of the calculation tool that allows the policyholder to build their own insurance plan and the terms and conditions of the insurance product they plan to participate on the website of the insurer specified in clause 4 of Article 97 of Decree No. 46/2023/ND-CP; analyze customer information, including the needs and financial capabilities of the policyholder; survey the policyholder's risk appetite to advise the policyholder to participate in the appropriate unit fund (for unit-linked insurance products);
c) Clearly explain to the policyholder about the benefits and the specific risks of the product, and require the policyholder to confirm in the documents specified in Article 30 of this Circular;
d) May not compare or guarantee that the investment performance of one unit fund is better than that of another unit fund or of another insurer;
dd) Record some of the contents related to the product consultation process at the time the policyholder signs the insurance application form. The recording content must ensure at least the following information:
- Name and certificate number of the insurance agent;
- Name, age, address, and phone number of the policyholder;
- The content of the consultation of the agent or employee of the corporate insurance agent on insurance benefits, investment benefits, and investment risks that the policyholder may encounter when participating in the unit-linked insurance product, information on the fees charged by the insurer to the policyholder and the conditions for receiving the benefits agreed upon in the insurance policy;
- Notification of the insurance premiums and fees and payment terms selected by the policyholder to confirm their financial capacity compliance;
- Notification to the policyholder of the time to consider participating in insurance, the rights and obligations of the policyholder, including the obligation to honestly declare, the main contents of the benefits agreed upon in the insurance policy and the conditions for receiving those benefits;
- Confirmation of the policyholder's participation in insurance on a voluntary basis and in accordance with the financial needs and insurance needs of the policyholder.
In case there are other related information and this information relates to private life and personal privacy, the recording must be approved by the policyholder to record the content of that information.
Insurers must ensure compliance with this regulation no later than 1 year after the effective date of this Circular.
3. The corporate insurance agent must comply with the following regulations:
a) Explain to policyholders that insurance products distributed through the corporate insurance agent are insurance products. Participation in insurance is not a prerequisite for using other products or services offered by the corporate insurance agent;
b) The corporate insurance agent must reconcile the data on new insurance contracts, insurance premium revenue, and effective insurance contracts they executed with the insurer on a monthly basis;
c) Credit institutions and foreign bank branches that are acting as insurance agents are prohibited from advising, introducing, offering, or arranging for the conclusion of investment-linked insurance policies for customers within 60 days before and 60 days after the full disbursement of the loan.
4. As for the provision of insurance products through a corporate insurance agent, an insurer or branch of foreign non-life insurer must comply with the following regulations:
a) Conduct periodic monitoring and inspection to ensure the quality of the product introduction and consulting activities of the employees of that corporate insurance agent; and promptly coordinate with the corporate insurance agent to inspect, review, and handle customer complaints related to the consulting activities of the employees of the corporate insurance agent and take actions against violations (if any);
b) May not sign additional individual agent contracts with employees of the corporate insurance agent to market the same insurance policy. If the insurer or branch of foreign non-life insurer has signed an individual insurance agent with an employee of the corporate insurance agent to deal with the same insurance policy before the effective date of this Circular must review and ensure compliance with this regulation before July 1, 2024.
5. As for the provision of investment-linked insurance products, a life insurer comply with the following regulations:
a) Conduct independent inspection of the content of product consulting by agents. If provided through a corporate insurance agent, the inspection shall be carried out before the decision to issue the contract. The content of the inspection shall be aimed at assessing whether the policyholder participates in insurance on a voluntary basis and whether the products advised are suitable for the financial needs of the policyholder;
b) May not issue an insurance policy in case the recording content as prescribed in Point dd, Clause 2 of this Article does not contain the policyholder's confirmation of participating in insurance on a voluntary and appropriate basis, and in line with the financial capacity, and insurance needs of the policyholder;
c) Store and keep confidential all documents and recording data under Clause d, Article 2 of this Circular for at least 5 years from the effective date of the insurance policy. The insurer may only use this information for the purpose of evaluating the quality of insurance agent activities, resolving complaints related to insurance agent activities and anti-fraud activities in the field of insurance business, or providing them for competent authorities upon request.
6. In case an insurer or branch of a foreign non-life insurer signs multiple agent contracts to market the same insurance policy, content of authorized insurance agent activities as the basis for payment of agent commissions, bonuses, support, and other benefits as agreed in the agent contract. In all cases, the total amount of commissions paid shall not exceed the maximum commission rate prescribed in Article 51 of this Circular.
SECTION 2. INSURANCE BROKERAGE ACTIVITIES
Article 54. Provision of insurance products through insurance brokers
1. Insurance brokers must enter into a written agreement with customers when providing insurance brokerage services. The agreement must specify the content of the insurance brokerage activities, the term of the agreement, the rights, and obligations of each party.
2. In case an insurance broker is authorized by an insurer or foreign non-life insurance branch to collect insurance premiums, pay insurance benefits or insurance payouts, the authorization must comply with the following principles:
a) The authorization must be made in writing, clearly stating the duration and scope of authorized activities, rights, and obligations of each party;
b) In case an insurance broker is authorized by an insurer or foreign non-life insurance branch to collect insurance premiums:
- The policyholder's responsibility to pay insurance premiums is fulfilled when the policyholder has paid the insurance premiums agreed upon in the insurance policy to the insurance broker;
- When the policyholder has paid the insurance premium, the insurance broker is responsible for paying the above-mentioned insurance premium to the insurer or foreign non-life insurance branch within the agreed period between the insurer or foreign non-life insurance branch and the insurance broker, but no more than 30 days from the date of receipt of the insurance premium.
c) In case an insurance broker is authorized by an insurer or foreign non-life insurance branch to pay insurance benefits or insurance payouts:
- The insurer or foreign non-life insurance branch is still responsible to the insured person or beneficiary for the sum insured that the insurer or foreign non-life insurance branch is obliged to pay to the insured person or beneficiary;
- The insurance broker enterprise is responsible for paying the sum insured to the insured or beneficiary within no more than 5 working days from the date of receiving the sum insured from the insurer or branch of a foreign non-life insurer and not more than the payment period for insurance benefit or insurance payout as prescribed by law.
Insurance brokers may only carry out the authorized activities specified in points b and c of this paragraph if the authorized activities are related to insurance policies arranged by the insurance brokers. Insurance brokers are not allowed to receive remuneration from insurers or foreign non-life insurance branches to carry out the authorized activities specified in points b and c of this clause.
3. Insurance brokers are allowed to cooperate with other insurance brokers that are allowed to operate in Vietnam to carry out original insurance brokerage activities. This cooperation must be agreed in writing, specifying the obligations, rights and interests and the ratio of sharing insurance brokerage commissions of each party.
Article 55. Insurance brokerage commission
1. Insurance brokers are entitled to receive original insurance brokerage commission from insurance premiums.
2. The rate of original insurance brokerage commission and the payment of original insurance brokerage commission are determined based on a written agreement between the insurer, foreign non-life insurance branch, and the insurance broker.
When the policyholder has paid the insurance premium, the insurer or foreign non-life insurance branch is responsible for paying the above-mentioned original insurance brokerage commission from the insurance premium received within the agreed period, but no more than 30 days from the date of receipt of the insurance premium.
3. In all cases, the original insurance brokerage commission shall not exceed 15% of the insurance premiums actually collected by the insurer, foreign non-life insurance branch of each insurance transaction within each insurance policy arranged through the insurance broker.
4. Reinsurance brokerage commission shall be agreed by the parties in accordance with international practice.
Article 56. Information disclosure
1. Insurance brokers are responsible for posting information in accordance with Article 49 of this Circular for the contents that must be publicly disclosed in accordance with Clause 8, Article 138 of the Law on Insurance Business.
2. Before providing advice to customers, an insurance broker must disclose to customers in writing information about the tasks that the insurance broker is authorized by the insurer, reinsurer, or foreign branch in Vietnam, the relationship with the insurer, reinsurer, or foreign branch in Vietnam and other information that may cause conflicts of interest.
Tìm kiếm
Thông tư 67/2023/TT-BTC (Bản Word)
Thông tư 67/2023/TT-BTC (Bản Pdf)
Thông tư 67/2023/TT-BTC (Bản Zip)
