China Times (chinatimes.net.cn) reporter Wu Min reported in Beijing
Recently, Hetai Life Insurance, which claims to be the first Internet life insurance company, disclosed its fourth quarter solvency report for 2019. The report shows that Hetai Life Insurance's insurance business revenue in the fourth quarter of last year was 384 million yuan and its net profit was -126 million yuan.
"In fact, among the insurance companies established during the same period, our company has always been at a low level in overall financial losses." A relevant person in charge of Hetai Life Insurance told our reporter.
It said that the losses mainly resulted in two reasons. First, the company achieved a premium of 620 million yuan in the fourth quarter, which increased exponentially compared with the previous three quarters, and the corresponding handling fees also increased exponentially; second, a considerable number of expenses including IT R&D expenses and audit expenses were concentrated in the fourth quarter, resulting in a significant increase in management expenses in the quarter.
lost 126 million in the fourth quarter, and 40% of its equity was pledged.
Hetai Life Insurance was established on January 24, 2017. Its registered capital is 1.5 billion yuan. Its registered place is Jinan, Shandong. It was initiated by 8 shareholders. Among them, Beijing Yingke Bicheng Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Tencent , and CITIC Group, hold 15% of the company's equity and 20% of the equity respectively.
As a startup insurance company, it is understandable that it failed to make a profit. An insider of a life insurance company told our reporter: "As a startup company, when the company's business scale has grown rapidly and has not yet formed economic benefits for scale, it inevitably leads to temporary mismatch in income and expenditure periods. From the perspective of industry development laws, life insurance companies generally need to undergo a "seven-to-eight-earning" training, that is, they need to survive a loss period of about 7 years before they can enter the profit channel."
"Operational losses are understandable for newly established insurance companies, but whether the loss is due to the demand for business expansion, the high odds of claims, or the waste of management costs, this is necessary to know. If it is due to the needs of business development, financial losses such as large reserves of insurance liability reserves, high technical and talent investment, there is no need to worry too much. After the cost is diluted in the later stage, it will naturally enter the profit period." An industry insider said.
Relevant person in charge of Hetai Life Insurance also explained to the reporter of the China Times, saying: "The loss of 126 million yuan in the fourth quarter of 2019 was mainly due to two reasons. First, the company achieved a large premium of 620 million yuan in the fourth quarter, which increased exponentially compared with the previous three quarters, and the corresponding handling fees also increased exponentially; second, a considerable number of expenses including IT R&D expenses and audit expenses were concentrated in the fourth quarter, which led to a significant increase in management expenses in the quarter."
It is worth noting that as a startup company, Hetai Life Insurance's equity was pledged or frozen on a large scale. The company's fourth quarter solvency report for 2019 shows that a total of 600 million shares of its shares have been pledged, accounting for 40% of all shares of Hetai Life Insurance.
Specifically, CITIC Guoan Co., Ltd. pledged and frozen all its shares of Hetai Life Insurance from the outside; Luanchuan County Jinxing Mining Co., Ltd. pledged all its shares of Hetai Life Insurance from the outside; Qinhuangdao Yuming Real Estate Group Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen Hefengtai Technology Co., Ltd. pledged and frozen all its shares of Hetai Life Insurance respectively, accounting for 6% of its total shares.
Wang Pengpeng, lecturer in insurance law at Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, once told our reporter: "The purpose of pledging equity shareholders pledge the equity held by the insurance company to obtain financing. The pledge financing of shareholders has no direct impact on the insurance company. Only when the shareholders cannot repay the financing loan as agreed, the creditors can dispose of the pledged equity. However, if the equity of the insurance company is disposed of by the creditor, it will have an impact on the operation of the insurance company."
Deputy Director of the Insurance Research Office of the Development Research Center of the State Council Zhu Junsheng also pointed out that equity pledge is a normal business behavior. Generally speaking, state-owned insurance companies have relatively few equity pledges, while private insurance companies have more common equity pledges, because private enterprises have relatively narrow financing channels, insurance companies' equity is a collateral with relatively high quality, and financing ratio is relatively high. Pledge financing is the choice of many companies. However, if individual shareholders have excessively aggressive pledge financing, it will increase their own liquidity risks, and thus endanger the equity structure of insurance companies.
However, the relevant person in charge of Hetai Life told our reporter that this will not affect the company's operations. He said: "Hetai Life is initiated by eight shareholders, and the equity is relatively scattered. The pledge or freezing of the company's equity held by minority shareholders will not affect the company's operations. "
In terms of solvency, the solvency adequacy ratio of Hetai Life Insurance has also declined for four consecutive quarters. In the fourth quarter of last year, the core and comprehensive solvency adequacy ratios were 280.32%, a decrease of 181 percentage points from the beginning of the year. The core and comprehensive solvency adequacy ratios in the first three quarters were 461.74%, 414.68%, and 404.37%, respectively.
In this regard, an insider of a start-up insurance company told our reporter: "Under the premise of meeting the adequacy ratio level of regulatory requirements, the higher the solvency, the better. Excessive solvency adequacy ratio often means that more capital is idle and not used to support the company's business development, and the capital efficiency is low. Usually, insurance companies will have objective conditions of high solvency in the early stages of development. The adequacy ratio will gradually decrease with the company's various businesses and the development of institutions, and will return to the target solvency level. "
Tencent team assists in the operation of Internet insurance platform
The reason why Hetai Life Insurance really distinguishes from other life insurance companies is that it has a Tencent shareholder background and is called "the first Internet life insurance company." Li Yuquan, general manager of
Hetai Life Insurance, also stated in public that small and medium-sized companies should fully rely on shareholder advantages in their development, but relying on shareholder advantages, not only relying on shareholder advantages, but also providing corresponding services to shareholders and cooperating with the implementation of shareholder strategies, so that they can get the support and understanding of shareholders. "We have been thinking about how to take advantage of shareholder advantages to embark on a path of innovative development. "
Li Yuquan said: "As an important shareholder of Hetai Life Insurance, Tencent fully relies on its customer resource advantages to develop its business, use its big data and technology advantages to control underwriting risks, and use its technological advantages to carry out online claims services. CITIC Guoan is another important shareholder of Hetai Life Insurance. We plan to make full use of CITIC Guoan community and its online and offline comprehensive services to provide relevant insurance services to its customers. For example, there are many Guoan community outlets and pension stations in Beijing, and we can provide pension insurance and comprehensive insurance services to their customers and families. "
But in the eyes of industry insiders, the Internet channel is more suitable for selling products with high standardization of auto insurance and accident insurance. life insurance products have high premiums and complex terms. A policy runs through the entire life cycle of customers. People still lack trust in purchasing life insurance products through the Internet channels.
However, the above-mentioned relevant person in charge of Hetai Life Insurance admitted to our reporter that as a newly established life insurance company with obvious Internet characteristics, Hetai Life Insurance has gained the trust of hundreds of thousands of customers in just three years. Frankly speaking, in the early business, the shareholder Tencent has no brand advantages. The doubt has increased the weight of customers' trust in the company; but more importantly, in the process of Tencent's team assisting the company in operating the Internet insurance platform, their "customer first" concept has deeply affected all aspects of the company. We have established a convenient, fast and transparent network communication platform with customers, constantly polishing products according to customer needs and feedback, improving services, quickly answering customer insurance questions, and quickly solving various problems encountered by customers in claims settlement. We have always taken "customer first" as the starting point of our work, reflecting the convenience, simplicity, fast and transparent Internet insurance, and practicing the company's service concept of "Hetai Life is within reach" and gradually winning the trust of customers.In the future, we will continue to improve and improve our various services.
This coincides with the idea of an Internet insurance company executive interviewed by the reporter. He told the reporter: "In the future, if any company can make the customer experience better, it will seize the best opportunity to overtake. In the past, insurance companies generally regarded 'premium as king' and would not care if they sold it. But now, with the rise of Internet insurance, customers' requirements for services are getting higher and higher, which has given some insurance companies with technological application layout, but it is also a new challenge. Salesmen who are good at customer maintenance and management will also receive more attention." A relevant person in charge of
Hetai Life Insurance also revealed its future development strategic plan to our reporter. The company is committed to becoming an innovative life insurance company with obvious Internet advantages and outstanding value creation capabilities. The company will adhere to the "dual-wheel drive strategy" of Internet business and offline business, that is, on the one hand, it will continue to rely on the brand and technical advantages of shareholder Tencent to explore the Internet life insurance business model and strengthen cooperation with other Internet platforms; on the other hand, it will gradually carry out strategic layout of national branches and strive to achieve coordinated development of online and offline businesses.
Editor-in-chief: Meng Junlian Editor-in-chief: Ran Xuedong
