Syn Mun Kong cancelled its Covid policies mid-outbreak and paid in trust

On July 16, 2021, SET-listed Syn Mun Kong Insurance announced on Facebook that it was cancelling its Covid 2-1 insurance policies with all customers, saying the rapidly deteriorating Covid-19 situation in Thailand made the risk unmanageable. Policies would terminate 30 days after customers received the official notification letter.

The company said it would return premiums paid in the 15 days after cancellation, but not the money customers had paid before the decision to terminate the product. It cited surging infections pressuring the public health system and said the pandemic had made it impossible to forecast an end to the problem, affecting its risk management.

The reaction was immediate and hostile. Customers aired their anger on the company's Facebook page and across social media, where the Syn Mun Kong hashtag topped Twitter in Thailand. 'How could you do that? Don't expect people to buy other insurance from you from now,' one wrote; another demanded 'all our money plus interest'. Syn Mun Kong shares plunged 1.75 baht, or 4.70%, to 35.50 baht as afternoon trading began, and the Office of Insurance Commission was reportedly holding talks with the company.

Shares plunged 4.70% to 35.50 baht at the open; the SMK hashtag topped Thai Twitter and customers said they felt cheated and would not return.

The insurer had sold Covid policies whose exposure grew without bound as Thailand's outbreak accelerated.

Ending cover with the crisis at its worst made customers feel abandoned precisely when they expected to be paid.

Refunding only recent premiums — not the money paid since purchase — sharpened the sense of being cheated.

Announcing on Facebook put an underwriting decision directly in front of the angriest possible audience.

Cancelling policies while the insured peril is peaking turns a balance-sheet rescue into a betrayal story — the timing, not just the decision, is the reputational cost.

Syn Mun Kong became the first insurance company in Thailand to stop selling Covid-19 insurance. The Office of Insurance Commission was reportedly in talks with the company after the shock announcement, while customers organised their anger under a top-trending hashtag.