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Indonesians disgruntled over unit link insurance
A group of disgruntled unit link insurance policyholders have grabbed national media attention after holding protests at AIA, AXA Mandiri and Prudential Indonesia's offices in Jakarta.
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Maria Tri Hartanti (right) is shown protesting in front of Prudential Tower in Jakarta in a photo uploaded on her Instagram account on Jan. 16, 2022. (Instagram/Maria Tri Hartanti)
M
aria Tri Hartanti, 46, a housewife from Lampung, has lost a lot of money since becoming an investment-linked insurance policyholder in 2011, otherwise known as a unit link holder.
Agents from two insurance companies offered her a retirement savings plan and education insurance, promising high returns after five to ten years.
She found out in 2020 that both of her accounts had lost 60 to 65 percent of their initial values to Rp 32.6 million (US$2,270) and Rp 9.6 million, just as she wanted to cash out.
“Those agents only illustrated how our money would go up and up, but they did not tell us it could go down, and that risk is placed upon us,” Maria told The Jakarta Post on Jan. 26.
Maria had invested in unit-linked insurance policies, which combines regular insurance with an investment portfolio that fluctuates with the market.
Insurers came up with unit links to sell more insurance policies in a country with an insurance literacy rate of under 20 percent, but the firms’ frequent inability to deliver promised returns have left many consumers disgruntled.
Angered, Maria banded together with around 350 other unit link holders to demand a full refund over the alleged misselling and fraud, while also filing their cases to the police.
