Financial regulators warned insurance companies to not purposefully over-charge customers on insurance fees.

The Financial Supervisory Service said Thursday that it will hold chief executives accountable for such practices and impose tougher disciplinary measures against them and their companies, such as business suspension or higher fines.

The financial regulatory enforcement agency also plans to deeply scrutinize whether insurers are fairly pricing their products for their policyholders in the second half of this year.

This comes as the FSS vowed to decrease the number of consumer complaints against alleged unfair pricing of insurance products in line with the incumbent administration’s efforts to boost consumer protection.

FSS chief Choi Soo-hyun has devised guidelines that would push insurers to cut down customer complaints by 50 percent on their own.

Samsung Life Insurance, Kyobo Life Insurance, Hanwha Life Insurance, Dongbu Insurance, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance and Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance have reportedly been given such guidelines.

“The 50 percent cut is not unreasonable, given that about 42 percent of customer complaints are currently taken care of by either the FSS or insurance firms before they reach the regulatory agency, an FSS official said.

Each insurer is required to submit specific reduction plans by May 16, the FSS said.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)