Hong Kong IA bans insurance agent with fake academic credentials for 3 years

The agent’s license has now been revoked.

Hong Kong Insurance Authority has revoked the license and issued a ban for three years against an insurance agent who used faked academic credentials.

A certain Xie Xiaoyan was said to have used two false academic certificates to establish that she met the minimum education requirements to be an insurance agent.

Xie used a false academic certificate in April 2017 when she first applied to be registered as an insurance agent with the Insurance Agents Registration Board (IARB) under the self-regulatory regime in place prior to the IA taking on the regulation of licensed insurance intermediaries on 23 September 2019. She employed a second false academic certificate in October 2019, in seeking to convince her appointing principal that she had satisfied the minimum education requirements.

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The IA said that meeting minimum education requirements is vital to the issue of whether or not a person is fit and proper to be an insurance agent. 

“It goes to the issue of academic competence to be able to advise on insurance matters on which potential policyholders rely. Honesty, integrity and reliability are also pre-requisite character traits for any insurance intermediary, as these form the basis of the trust that the insurance buying public is entitled to expect from those licensed under the insurance regulatory framework,” the IA said.

The deployment of false academic certificates to establish that the minimum education requirements to be an insurance intermediary are satisfied (when this is not the case), undermines both of these vital aspects of fitness and properness. It serves as an example of misconduct so disreputable and contrary to the trustworthiness demanded of an insurance intermediary, as to be deserving of a lengthy ban from the industry, until such time (and only if) a complete reformation of character and restoration of integrity has been proven (as well as the attainment of the minimum education requirements being fully satisfied). The IA has no tolerance for such reprehensible misconduct, the IA said.

The IA also reminded insurers that they also have a part to play in ensuring that, as part of their recruitment and onboarding processes for new insurance agents, they carry out adequate checks on the accuracy of the information being submitted to the IA as part of a licensing application by their prospective new insurance agent.