Thailand Office of Insurance Commission sets complaint handling KPIs and tighter service timelines to reduce insurance disputes

The Thailand Office of Insurance Commission reported on its first 2026 meetings with non-life insurers and life insurers on reducing insurance complaints, setting out joint measures aimed at preventing disputes earlier rather than only resolving them after escalation. The initiative sits under the fifth insurance development plan and focuses on raising insurers’ complaint management standards to improve service and reduce complaint volumes. Key issues discussed included non-life insurance complaints linked mainly to claims handling, including vehicle repair costs, loss of use and disaster-related claims, with problems stemming from policy term misunderstandings, internal processes and delayed claim payments. In life insurance, the main complaint areas were policy conditions, policy cancellation, and sales and disclosure practices by life agents. Agreed measures include requiring insurers to set key performance indicators for complaint management, establish internal review before complaints are escalated, and adopt service level timeframes faster than those set under the 2024 Office of Insurance Commission service level standards. The Office also outlined risk-based market conduct supervision focused on four processes that account for more than 95% of complaints, namely sales, premium collection, claims handling and complaint management, while discussions also covered stronger coordination through the Insurance Speedy Channel system, wider use of external mediation and more effective arbitration.