Manulife Vietnam boss promises settlements for all bancassurance-related customer complaints

Canadian-backed life insurer Manulife Vietnam will solve customer complaints regarding its bancassurance services via Saigon Commercial Bank, the company’s chairman Sachin Shah said.

Addressing a press briefing in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday about the complaints, he said his firm’s solutions may include lowering insurance premiums.

However, most of the complaints do not have enough proof to justify what customers described as infringements, he added.

Shah said his company will meet with those customers who have bought a product combining insurance with investment from his firm via Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) and filed complaints to police investigators no later than April 30, 2023.

In-person talks between the customers and Manulife will take place for a solution. “We’ll send to them letters to make appointments, and we want the process to happen as soon as we can.”

In cases where there is enough evidence to confirm violations in the consulting and sales process, according to Shah, his company has taken measures to strictly handle the wrongdoers, including sending reports to authorities.

For customers, the firm will offer solutions including canceling the insurance policies or not canceling but shifting to another contract based on customer choice.

According to him, Manulife’s operation review process shows that the complaints regarded talks between its agents and clients, with no legal documents recorded. The firm has reviewed its agents’ working process and welcome calls recorded when new customers bought an insurance product.

Listening to the recorded voice, the company heard that most deals had been made successfully with no unusual elements in the sales process, it claimed.

Recently, customers of Manulife Vietnam have complained about their insurance policies, saying they had been defrauded by Saigon Commercial Bank and the firm via their bancassurance partnership, which lured them into buying insurance policies masked as deposits offering high-interest rates.

Shah said these incidents have harmed the general public’s trust in his firm and the Vietnamese life insurance sector and those who work in it.

In addition to Manulife, Italian-backed life insurer Generali Vietnam has also been accused by some of its clients of drawing up vague contracts and falsifying customer signatures.