Committee of Supply 2024 debate, Day 1: Alvin Tan on fair insurance coverage and combating scams

Under revised guidelines on fair dealing, insurers will have to conduct detailed assessments on applications by people with disabilities or mental health conditions. They can then accept the applications with higher premiums or specific benefits excluded, or reject the applications if they deem the risks to be too large. They must properly explain the basis of their decisions to the applicants. The guidelines are expected to be issued by the middle of this year. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will closely monitor implementation, including reviewing insurers’ underwriting policies and processes. Supervisory action will be taken against insurers which fall short. MAS Board Member Alvin Tan gave these details in Parliament on Wednesday (Feb 28). He also spoke about progress in efforts to combat scams. Mr Tan said he wanted to emphasise that the bulk of scams and amounts lost are cases involving authorised, not unauthorised transactions. He said such scams cannot be tackled through banking sector-related safeguards alone. Members of the public must also be vigilant, keep up with new types of scams and take steps to protect themselves.