The Bank of Thailand has renewed its call for banks to comply with its rules when selling insurance policies to customers.
Bank staff must not force the sales of insurance products by packaging them with basic banking products such as deposits or loans, the central bank said in a circular letter sent to commercial banks on Friday.
Any sale pitch for insurance products should be in line with the demand and affordability of customers.
When general insurance is sold as part of a package with deposits, the staff should explain the benefits and conditions that may put customers at a disadvantage in an accurate, comprehensive manner. The explanations should be made in a jargon-free language that ordinary people can easily understand.
Moreover, insurance policies can be sold only by certified bank staff, who must introduce themselves as such before beginning a sales pitch, it said.
Forced and unsolicited sales of insurance products are among major complaints of bank customers, along with a requirement in practice for customers to apply for debit-card ATMs, of which fee double that of regular ATM cards, when opening bank accounts.