Thailand’s Office of the Insurance Commission (OIC) has published two parallel sets of draft regulatory amendments for public hearing—one governing non-life insurance and the other governing life insurance. The proposed amendments would significantly revise the rules for issuing, offering, and selling insurance policies, as well as the conduct of agents, brokers, and banks. Stakeholders may submit comments until April 25, 2026. The key proposed changes are summarized below. Electronic Policy Delivery by Default Under both draft amendments, electronic delivery would become the default method for delivering insurance policies. A printed copy would be required only if the policyholder expressly opts out, and any such printed copy would be treated as a substitute for the electronic original. For life insurance, this requirement would also extend to coverage summaries and to exclusion documents. The OIC would also retain authority to approve alternative delivery methods for specific types of policies. Misuse of Licenses Both amendments would introduce an explicit prohibition against sales representatives using another person’s name or license, or allowing another person to use their name or license, in connection with the offering of insurance or in sales documentation and policies. Premium Collection Reforms Both amendments would introduce the premium collection reforms outlined below. Premium receipt accounts Insurers must ensure that sales representatives inform customers of the available payment channels, which are limited to channels that remit premiums into the insurer’s account. If a customer pays an insurance premium to an insurer’s employee, an insurance broker, or any other person, and the company acknowledges the payment by issuing an insurance policy or other documentary evidence of insurance coverage, the insurer would be deemed to have received the insurance premium. Written premium collection and refund guidelines Insurers would be required to prepare written internal guidelines covering premium collection and refund policies, risk

Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) enforcement has entered a new phase, and the insurance industry is squarely in the regulatory spotlight. The Personal Data Protection Committee (PDPC) considers insurers “large-scale” processors of sensitive data—including health records, financial information, and biometric data—making the sector a focal point for enforcement action. In August 2025 alone, the PDPC issued administrative fines totaling THB 21.5 million, and fines for individual violations have ranged from THB 50,000 to THB 2 million. The PDPC has also deployed its “Eagle Eye Crawler,” an AI-driven surveillance tool that monitors websites around the clock for data leaks and noncompliant privacy notices. This article highlights the key regulatory developments directly affecting insurers and outlines practical steps toward compliance. What Has Changed: OIC and PDPC Alignment The Office of Insurance Commission (OIC) has synchronized its sector-specific rules with the PDPA through the Notification on Customer Personal Data Protection (No. 2) B.E. 2568 (2025). The combined effect of the PDPC’s general enforcement push and the OIC’s sectoral guidance creates four critical compliance areas for insurers. Consent unbundling. Consent for marketing must be strictly separated from the core insurance contract; bundling marketing consent into the policy application is no longer permissible. Agent and intermediary oversight. Insurance intermediaries are generally classified as data processors, meaning that insurers—as data controllers—must provide specific written instructions and security protocols to all agents and brokers. A 2026 enforcement trend shows controllers being held liable for the “weak security” of their vendors and downstream processors. Enhanced privacy notices. Insurers must provide a summary privacy notice alongside the full policy, plainly stating categories of data, purposes, lawful bases, disclosure recipients, cross-border transfers, retention periods, data subject rights, and easy marketing opt-out channels. DPO registration and ROPA. All organizations involved in “regular or systematic monitoring of data subjects on

Thailand’s Office of Insurance Commission (OIC) has introduced comprehensive group-wide supervision requirements for insurers operating within corporate groups. Published on February 26, 2026, in two separate notifications in the Government Gazette, the new rules establish parallel frameworks for life and non-life insurance companies. Both notifications take effect on July 1, 2026, and impose significant new requirements on insurance business groups. Affected insurers should begin reviewing their group structures, governance frameworks, and risk management systems now to ensure timely compliance. The notifications aim to ensure that group-level operations are orderly, stable, and reliable, and prevent the accumulation of systemic risk that could undermine public confidence in the insurance sector. Both notifications share a substantially parallel structure and require insurers to assess and manage the financial position, risk exposure, reliability, and corporate governance of their entire insurance business group on a comprehensive and ongoing basis. The regulations introduce definitions for several key terms. An “insurance business group” encompasses the insurer together with its ultimate parent company, parent companies, subsidiaries, and related companies. The “head of the insurance business group” is the entity responsible for overseeing group-wide supervision, operations, and governance. An “ultimate parent company” is one that exercises control without itself being controlled by another entity. Key Requirements The notifications establish the following core obligations for insurers: Group structure and shareholding reporting: Insurers must report the organizational chart and shareholding structure of their insurance business group—covering the ultimate parent company, parent companies, subsidiaries, and related entities—to the OIC registrar by June of each year, and whenever material changes occur. The regulations prescribe specific thresholds for determining when shareholding proportions constitute control. Corporate governance standards: Board members, executives, and authorized persons of the ultimate parent company or parent company must not be disqualified (e.g., bankrupt individuals, persons convicted of property-related fraud, or