Insurance Authority bans Xie Xiaoyan for three years for using false academic certificates
29 August 2022
The Insurance Authority (IA) has taken disciplinary action against Ms Xie Xiaoyan who used two false academic certificates to establish that she met the minimum education requirements to be an insurance agent. Ms Xie’s licence as a licensed individual insurance agent is revoked, and she has been prohibited from applying to be licensed for 3 years.
Ms 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.
Meeting minimum education requirements is of course 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 which the insurance buying public is entitled to expect from those licensed under the insurance regulatory framework.
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 present case, in relation to the first false academic certificate submitted to the IARB was handled in accordance with the transitional arrangements in Schedule 11 of the Insurance Ordinance (Cap. 41) (the Ordinance), which required the relevant requirements in place at the time to be applied and the disciplinary approach of the IARB1 to be followed. In relation to the second false academic certificate, which was submitted to her appointing principal after 23 September 2019 (but not as part of the licensing process), regard was also given to the fit and proper requirements under the new regulatory regime.
The new regulatory regime for licensed insurance intermediaries which came into force on 23 September 2019 has strengthened the punishment for submission of false academic certificates in the licensing process. It is now a criminal offence to provide false information to the IA in connection with an application for a licence or an approval under the Ordinance2. An individual who commits such offence, if found guilty, will be liable to a fine at level 53 and to imprisonment for 6 months. The IA will have no hesitation in prosecuting any individual who seeks to submit a false academic certificate to the IA as part of the licensing process.
Insurers also have a part to play in ensuring that, as part of their recruitment and on-boarding 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.
For further information on the IA’s enforcement work, please see the “Enforcement News” section of the IA’s website. Public disciplinary actions against licensed insurance intermediaries may also be searched on the Register of Licensed Insurance Intermediaries on our website.
Ends
Notes:
1 Pursuant to section 113(4)(d) of Schedule 11 to the Ordinance, in handling non-compliance cases unresolved by the Self-Regulatory Organisations (SROs), the IA may impose a disciplinary sanction on a specified person that could have been imposed by the SRO concerned had the case been handled by the body.
2 Section 64ZZE of the Ordinance sets out the offence to provide false information in connection with application for licence or approval.
3 Pursuant to Schedule 8 to the Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Cap. 221), a fine at level 5 is HK$50,000 at present.