On June 16, 2022, the National Assembly adopted the Law on Insurance Business No. 08/2022/QH15, replacing the Law in 2010, amended and supplemented in 2019. The 2022 Law on Insurance Business introduced several new contents, in which, it requires some subjects to have corresponding certificates when participating in insurance business activities.
In order to concretize the issuance of insurance certificates, on November 16, 2022, the Ministry of Finance issued Circular No. 69/2022/TT-BTC (“Circular 69”) regulating in details of insurance certificates, insurance agent certificate, insurance brokerage certificate, and insurance auxiliary certificate. Circular 69 has some notable contents as follows:
According to new regulations in the 2022 Law on Insurance Business, Directors, General Directors, legal representatives and other managers want to participate in management at insurance enterprises, reinsurance enterprises and foreign branches in Vietnam must satisfy certain conditions and standards. In which, these subjects must “have a bachelor degree or higher in insurance majors. If they do not have a bachelor degree or higher in insurance majors, they must have any of those in another major and have insurance certificate...”[1]. Regarding insurance brokerage activities, those who directly carry out this activity must “have a university degree or higher in insurance majors or have an insurance certificate apropriately for the type of insurance or a certificate of insurance brokerage...”[2].
Therefore, the 2022 Law on Insurance Business allowed subjects to use insurance certificates/ insurance brokerage certificates to participate in insurance business activities without a bachelor degree or higher in insurance majors.
In order to facilitate obtainment of insurance certificates/ insurance broker certificates, regulations related to the organization of training, examinations and issuance of these certificates have been introduced in Circular 69. Specifically:
Amendment on the organization of examination and issuance of insurance agent certificate
Criteria |
Circular 69 |
Circular 125/2018/TT-BTC on the issuance of insurance agent certificate |
|
Place of examination |
- The examination locations are concentrated in the provinces and cities announced by the Department of Insurance Management and Supervision; - Other examination locations registered by insurance enterprises or branches of foreign non-life insurance enterprises and mutual organizations providing microinsurance; - The office is located at the provincial administrative unit of the insurance agent organization, socio-political organization being in cooperation with insurance enterprises, branch of a foreign non-life insurance enterprise, and mutual organization providing microinsurance on insurance agent activities. |
- The examination locations concentrated in the provinces and cities announced by the Department of Insurance Management and Supervision;
- Other examination locations registered by the training institution. |
|
Certificate issuance duration |
Within 02 working days from the issuance date of decision on approval of exam results. |
Within 10 days from the issuance date of decision on approval of exam results. |
|
Withdrawal and adjustment of insurance agent certificate |
- The removal and denial duration of the certificate information on the Certification Exam Management System shall be 03 days; - The notification duration of the list and information of revoked certificates shall be 03 days. |
No specific time specified.
|
|
Individuals whose certificate is revoked due to committing fraud or forgery shall not be allowed to participate in certification exams for 12 months from the certificate revocation date. |
No regulation. |
Amendments on the organization of examination and issuance of insurance auxiliary certification
|
Criteria |
Circular 69 |
Circular 65/2019/TT-BTC on training, examining, granting and recognizing insurance auxiliary certificates |
|
Exam organization unit |
Department of Insurance Management and Supervision. |
Insurance Research and Training Center. |
|
Exam result notification period |
Within 03 working days from the examination date (in case of computer-based exam) or 05 working days from the examination date (in case of paper-based exam). |
Within 05 working days from the end of the exam period. |
|
Violation settlement |
A training institution violating regulations on the certificate issuance shall not subject to either examination plan registration or certificate issuance for 03 years from the date the violation(s) is/are discovered (in case of the first violation).
In case of recidivism, such training institution shall never be subject to either examination plan registration or certificate issuance. |
Only governs the revocation of certificates for individuals in case of violation. |
Notes for certificates issued in advance of January 01, 2023:
- In case of conversion certificate request: The application shall be submitted before December 31, 2025.
- Expiration date: From the certificate conversion date (according to the procedures specified in Circular 69) or from January 1, 2026, whichever occurs first.
Circular 69 shall take effect from January 1, 2023.
[1] Clauses 3 and 4, Article 81 of the 2022 Law on Insurance Business.
[2] Clause 2, Article 138 of the 2022 Law on Insurance Business.
Comment: