On 25 September 2025, the Insurance Authority ("IA") banned Ms. So Yuen Wa from being an insurance intermediary for 50 months due to misleading advice that resulted in clients surrendering and replacing three critical illness and long-term savings policies. Ms. So was also found to have impersonated a client to pocket the surrender value instead of paying it into the new policies. The IA advises the public to take extreme caution when asked to surrender policies.
This article was generated using SAMS, an AI technology by Timothy Loh LLP.
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On 25 September 2025, the Insurance Authority ("IA") suspended Ms. So Yuen Wa (Licence number: IG3140) from acting as an insurance intermediary for a period of 50 months.
Ms. So misled two clients, advising them that their existing insurer would assume their policies, to persuade them to give up their current critical illness and long-term savings plans. She secured the surrender of three critical illness and long-term savings policies and purchased eight new ones, without disclosing the policy replacement aspect. Notably, she impersonated one of the clients to inquire about the policies and retained the surrender value for herself instead of depositing it into the new policies. However, almost all of the funds were later reimbursed by Ms. So.
Policy replacement is a critical decision with significant impacts on policyholder interests. In this case, the clients lost the protections of their original policies and the opportunity to reinstate them. The public is advised to exercise extreme caution when asked to surrender policies. Insurance intermediaries are reminded that deceptive or unethical practices in relation to policy replacement may result in severe penalties by the IA.
Additional information is available under the 'Enforcement News' section and the Register of Licensed Insurance Intermediaries on the IA website.
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