article丨Yang Minzhe
This is the twelfth article of the author's annual thinking on the life insurance industry, and it is also the most difficult article to write.
development trajectory has changed, and the pressure trend has not changed;
market structure has changed, and the regulatory direction has not changed;
business logic has changed, and the direction of transformation has not changed;
industry ecology has changed, and the underlying logic has not changed.
2021 is definitely the year when China's life insurance industry resumes its business for 42 years, and it is also a rare year when the growth rate of premiums has not outperformed the growth rate of GDP.
plus the changes in the macro environment, regulatory environment and even micro-individual insurance, bank insurance , health insurance and other sub-sectors will affect the traditional life insurance business model that has been around for hundreds of years. From leading companies to small and medium-sized business entities, all of them are hesitating and turning in this year and need to break through upward demand.
However, China's population of 1.4 billion, GDP per capita of US$10,000, the pressure of pension and medical pressure under aging, and the birth of the huge middle class... all reflect the future of China's life insurance industry. This is a world-class large market, and companies with world-class influence must be brewing.
How to see through the fog and be sure of the future? Only thinking and practice. In the current difficult situation, reviewing 2021 is quite meaningful and identifying dangers and opportunities. This is also the original intention of this article. In addition to analyzing and summarizing the present, it also makes a relatively systematic review and deduction of the context of 2022.
Previous article
2021 Chinese life insurance industry look back: Four dimensions interpret the whole year's context
In the past four years, under the influence of multiple factors such as macroeconomics, regulatory systems, and the new crown epidemic, the development of China's life insurance industry has encountered great challenges. The growth of new policies and premiums is under pressure, industry competition has significantly differentiated, sales manpower continues to shrink, the market forces to transform operations, the development trend of the entire life insurance industry has completely changed, and the official definition is a period of active adjustment, which the industry calls it a period of transformation and change.
Looking back at 2021, through the interpretation of annual hot events, we can see the dilemma of continuous pressure and intensified differentiation in the industry; explore the trajectory of industry transformation, development and innovation breakthroughs.
① Product side: old and new critical illness insurance switch + short-term health insurance specification
event: In the fourth quarter of 2020, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the "Disease Definition and Usage Specifications for Major Illness Insurance (2020 The revised version of the year) stipulates that all critical illness insurance products that use the old definition will be removed from the shelves before January 31, 2021; on January 11, 2021, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the "Notice on Issues Related to Standardize Short-term Health Insurance Business", which regulates the problems of inflated insurance amounts, irregular sales and underwriting, and disorderly competition in short-term health insurance, and clarifies that short-term health insurance must not guarantee renewal , and must not use words and sentences such as "automatic renewal", "committed renewal", and "lifetime limit" that are easily confused with long-term health insurance.
Interpretation:
2021 started well. In the transition period of the definition of new and old critical illness insurance, various insurance companies took advantage of the situation to set off a wave of "switching". In January, the sales of critical illness insurance achieved a significant increase. After the tide receded, the sales of critical illness insurance quickly returned to a low point, and the annual growth rate opened high and closed low.
As a basic product of life insurance companies, critical illness insurance is very important for the value of new business of insurance companies and the long-term development of the industry. In order to alleviate the deterioration of critical illness insurance incidence and the higher product selection, the adjustment of the new and old definition of critical illness insurance will also make the definition of critical illness insurance more scientific and reasonable.
On the other hand, as an "Internet celebrity" insurance type in the industry in recent years, short-term health insurance has grown rapidly through the Internet channels, and million-dollar medical insurance has become one of the main hot spots in the life insurance market, but the rapid development has also brought many problems.
For example, the product internal volume is becoming more and more serious, and the insured amount is inflated, the combination sales, short-term insurance and long-term operations are becoming increasingly prominent under homogeneous competition. The product value rate continues to decline, and the compensation rate has deteriorated significantly. The regulatory authorities have issued bans on short-term health insurance, to curb the stubborn problem of "small claims and high fees", and to standardize the edge balls such as "guaranteed renewal". The implementation of the two major product new policies will be beneficial to the healthy development of the personal insurance market in the long run.
② Team end: Human resources are cleared + Basic Law amendment + Unique exploration
Event: On December 31, 2021, the top ten news of China's insurance industry in 2021 selected by " China Banking and Insurance News " was released. "Insurance agents are greatly cleared, and the life insurance industry is difficult to transform to high-quality development" is among them.
According to internal exchange data, the top six life insurance companies representing the trend of the development of the life insurance industry have shrunk from nearly 7 million in 2020 to about 4.5 million by the end of 2021; 2021 is also the year when the Basic Law of Major Life Insurance Companies (Insurance Agent Management Measures) is comprehensively revised. Ping An Life new Basic Law highlights the increase and improvement of excellence, supports the operation of the business department, etc. Taibao Life Insurance’s new Basic Law highlights the orientation of performance and focuses on the retention of new people.
Interpretation:
In recent years, the dividends of life insurance industry have continued to decline, which has made even worse in 2021. On the one hand, the supervision is based on the governance of industry chaos, and the requirements for clearing and empty cleanup are increased; on the other hand, the "home economy" in the Internet has emerged, and the market for increasing the number of employees is rapidly diverted.
As we all know, the current average monthly salary of insurance agents is significantly lower than the social average salary, and the income of insurance agents under the commission system lacks basic protection; in order to meet diversified and personalized needs, customers' professional quality requirements for insurance agents are constantly improving. The pyramid commission structure on the other side of
also has prominent problems such as unreasonable interest distribution. This problem of "supply and demand mismatch, distribution imbalance" accelerates the continuous shrinking of the agent team. Insurance companies start from the system and mechanism, revise the Basic Law, change the interest distribution orientation and organizational structure model, and explore a sustainable agent development path.
On the one hand, it eliminates agents without production capacity and low production capacity; on the other hand, it pays more attention to recruiting high-quality agents to meet the urgent needs of the transformation of the life insurance market.
At the same time, the Chinese version of the "exclusive model" has broken the ice and tried the waters, and some small and medium-sized insurance companies have increased their exploration of the "exclusive team" and continuously enriched the diversified paths for the development of China's life insurance marketing organizations.
③Client: Entering the era of longevity + Accelerating the third pillar
Event: In August 2021, Taikang Insurance Group Chen Dongsheng, Chairman of the book "The Era of Longevity - Perspective of the Future of Humanity from the perspective of Longevity, Health and Abundance" was published, systematically elaborating on the major issue of human beings entering the era of longevity. With the continuous deepening of aging, the entire society has been in the entire life. The structure, industrial layout, life concepts, etc. will all change profoundly. The book also introduces in-depth information on Taikang to actively participate in the innovative development and business practice of the pension industry;
In June 2021, exclusive commercial pension insurance started a pilot program in Zhejiang Province and Chongqing City, and six large insurance companies including China Life and Taikang Life participated in it. The top-level design has increased efforts, and the construction of the third pillar of pension insurance is accelerated; in September 2021, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission approved the preparation of National Pension Insurance Co., Ltd.
Interpretation:
The "Seven General" data in April 2021 was released, giving all sectors of society, including the life insurance industry, an important opportunity to examine China's population and even the economy and society. It is generally believed that aging has become the biggest realistic foundation of China's economy and society. The silver economy brings new opportunities such as pension and medical care to the development of the life insurance industry;
On January 17, 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics announced that as of the end of 2021, my country's population aged 65 and above was 200.56 million, accounting for 14.2% of the national population. Referring to international common standards, my country has entered an aging society.
standardized development of the third pillar of pension insurance has been listed as a key task by the Party Central Committee and the State Council. This is not only a major opportunity for commercial insurance companies, but also a national strategy related to the national economy and people's livelihood.
How to participate in the construction of the national multi-level and multi-pillar pension insurance system has become an important task in the insurance industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan period and an important part of improving and deepening the reform of the insurance industry. Taikang has innovated the new business model of "insurance + medical care" to lead the new trend of the era of longevity. Major insurance companies have followed suit and accelerated the layout of pension insurance and medical care industries.
According to Taikang Jiantou survey, as of November 2021, insurance institutions have laid out the elderly care industry in 34 cities across the country, with more than 130,000 elderly care beds. Insurance companies have laid out elderly care services through various models and expanded the value chain. The era of longevity is profoundly affecting the operating logic of the life insurance industry.
④ Regulatory end: rectify self-insurance + crack down on black industry + new regulations to blow up
incident: In September 2021, the Beijing Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau issued the "Notice on Standardizing the Management of Self-insurance and Mutual Insurance Components for Life Insurance Sales Personnel", and Chongqing and other local regulatory agencies followed up;
In July 2021, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the "On the Banking Industry" Notice on the Normalization of the Insurance Industry in the Anti-Gang and Elimination of Evils", requiring attention to "abnormal Insurance Refund" and focusing on the governance of "agent insurance refund" black industry;
At the end of November, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission formulated the "Personal Insurance Sales Management Measures (Draft for Comments)" and quickly caused shock in the industry. " Draft for Comments " involves all subjects, channels and processes of life insurance sales, and puts forward normative requirements on sensitive issues such as sales misleading, self-insurance and mutual insurance, and commission system, and proposes to classify and classify sales personnel and products, and establish a product sales appropriateness management system.
Interpretation :
In recent years, chaos such as sales misleading, self-insurance arbitrage, insurance cancellation black industry, data fraud have occurred frequently, seriously disrupting the insurance market environment and even affecting the legitimate rights and interests of insurance consumers.
In 2021, the regulator will again raise the reputation governance of insurance "industry image" and resolutely resist the chronic diseases of the industry such as "self-insurance arbitrage" and "insurance black industry". Various regulatory regulations have been issued one after another, increasing penalties and promoting the healthy and high-quality development of the industry; insurance also continuously strengthens systems such as honest operation and compliance management, strengthens responsibilities, and jointly maintains a good order of industry development.
"Draft for Comments" has a huge and far-reaching impact on my country's life insurance industry. The relevant details directly penetrate into the most critical links in the operation and management of the entire life insurance industry: sales personnel and products.
It can be foreseen that the implementation of new regulatory regulations will put suppressive pressure on the performance growth and staff expansion of insurance institutions in the short term; in the long run, systematic governance will help guide the sustainable and healthy development of the life insurance industry to be customer-centered and improve the quality of business.
Every major regulatory change is an opportunity for the industry to transform. We adhere to long-term beliefs, systematically manage the stubborn problems of arbitrage, black industry and other industries, and comprehensively standardize sales management. Only in order to revolutionize the life insurance industry, truly embark on the road of high-quality development of the industry.
Next
2022 China's life insurance industry outlook: Seven times of thinking about the future path of evolution
Faced with 2022, a long way to say that opportunities and challenges coexist. How to analyze the development environment, how to set the tone of the regulatory theme, how to transform business models, how to empower technology-driven, whether new order business can stabilize, whether human difficulties can be broken through, and whether product innovation can break through the circle...
① Development environment: stability is the first, dividends of the longevity era
Economic and social development is the fundamentals of the development of the life insurance industry.
The turbulent international situation, the complex and sensitive Sino-US relations , the global spread of the new crown epidemic has added uncertainty and certainty to the development of my country's economy and society, but my country's economic development and epidemic prevention and control have maintained a global leading position, and have taken new steps to build a new development pattern. The "14th Five-Year Plan" has started well:
The recent Central Economic Work Conference has sent a series of distinct signals. The economic work in 2022 is stable and stable. In order to make progress, the life insurance industry, which is in the transitional pain period, can only be clear in positioning and steadily advance all work;
From the perspective of population structure, the Qipu data confirms the arrival of the era of longevity, and pension and health issues have become the focus of attention of the whole society. Against the backdrop of deep aging, life insurance companies actively participate in the construction of a multi-level and multi-pillar pension insurance system, develop more pension and health insurance products and services, and steadily promote the pilot of the long-term care insurance system. The basic medical and nursing needs of the public in the era of longevity are the sustained dividends of the life insurance industry.
② Regulatory theme: Set the tone for high quality, maintain strict supervision
The first meeting of the New Year, set the tone for high quality.
On January 6, 2022, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission held a "Symposium on Promoting High-Quality Development of the Insurance Industry". The meeting was chaired by Guo Shuqing, Chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, and listened to the opinions and suggestions of relevant insurance institutions on preventing excessive competition in the insurance industry, realizing differentiated operations, and better serving the real economy. Summarizing the achievements made in the development of the insurance industry, scientifically analyzing the situation, and clarifying the situation. The goals and tasks of high-quality development of the industry are confirmed; the meeting of
believes that: the insurance industry has experienced many years of extensive development, causing many problems. The regulatory authorities rectify market chaos and remove historical problems, so as to promote the long-term and healthy development of the insurance industry. This meeting sets the main tone and weather vane for the industry development in the future period.
In 2022, the life insurance industry will continue to strictly regulate, and a series of measures such as in-depth regulatory policies and normalized personal supervision will continue. In the long run, only by transforming and high-quality development can a new round of healthy, fast and sustainable development of the life insurance industry.
③Business model: customer-centric, medical and nursing integration experiential
In layman's terms, the business model is how the industry or enterprise makes profits.
The business model of the traditional life insurance industry is to focus on products and rely on "dead difference, fee difference, interest rate spread " to obtain profits. With the iteration of mainstream customer groups and the transformation of customer demand, the life insurance market has transitioned from seller market to buyer market , and customer-centeredness has become the main feature of the advancement of the life insurance industry's business model.
With the advent of the era of longevity, the demand for public health and pension is increasing day by day. Innovation in business models combining traditional life insurance and medical and nursing entities has opened a new chapter in the development of the life insurance industry.
Take Taikang as an example. In 2007, it was approved for the pilot qualification of the elderly care community in 2009, and in 2012, the " Happiness and About " product was released. In 2017, the team of health wealth planners was launched. In the past two years, physical visits and scene implantation have become a trend. Taikang has created three closed loops of "longevity, health, and prosperity" through a series of strategic layouts and innovative practices. The integration of medical and nursing has become a new growth point and profit point for life insurance business. Based on Taikang's excellent practice, major life insurance companies have followed up on the medical and nursing layout.
④Technology Driver: Top-level design speeds up, digitalization 2.0
Accelerate Digital transformation is the core consensus and super practice of the life insurance industry.
In early December 2021, Zhou Liang, Vice Chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, pointed out in his forum speech that we should solidly promote development and sharing, use financial technology to accelerate digital transformation, and improve the inclusiveness and availability of financial services.
Recently, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the "Guiding Opinions on Digital Transformation of the Banking and Insurance Industry", comprehensively promotes the digital transformation of the banking and insurance industry from the perspective of top-level planning. In the next three years, the digital transformation of the life insurance industry will enter the 2.0 era. New algorithms enrich new technologies, new technologies activate new scenarios, penetrate the entire business operation process, cover the entire process of team growth, and empower the entire cycle of customer operations.
enterprise side, accelerate the construction of an operation management system for Internet customer groups, promote online and intelligent marketing, training, organizational development, strengthen the infrastructure construction of big data centers, and establish an "front-end sensitive and back-end steady-state" operation system; in the field of life insurance marketing, precise marketing and 020 models are constantly upgraded, private domain traffic, live video broadcasts, and mini-program applications will be more popular and in-depth.
⑤ New order business: insufficient growth momentum, and the pressure cycle is still
New order business is the most critical business indicator for life insurance companies. The long-term payment rollover model of life insurance products continues to bring about a continuous growth in total premiums.
Since 2018, the new policy premiums of the life insurance industry have shown continuous negative growth. In 2021, major life insurance companies have failed to get out of negative growth. If the low base factor affected by the epidemic in 2020 is considered, the life insurance industry has entered a cycle of deep adjustment.
According to the basic laws of the global life insurance industry, the growth of new order business comes from two major driving factors. , one is sales manpower and the other is per capita production capacity.
As the dividends of the organizational development rapidly decline, the human wave tactics have basically ended; behind the improvement of per capita production capacity is the professionalization of customer purchasing power and sales team, and capacity improvement is a gradual and slow process. Especially in the past four years, the scale of annuity products has shrunk significantly, and agent production capacity has also entered a bottleneck period.
From the analysis of growth momentum, new order business will still be under pressure in the future period. Boston released "Life Insurance Marketing - Choice at Crossroads" and believes that this round of transformation will be a longer cycle.
⑥ Sales team: Manpower continues to shrink, structure is optimized
Sales manpower decay is a phenomenon, and demand matching misalignment is the main cause.
From the bottom logic: mainstream customer groups in life insurance industry accelerated iteration, per capita GDP12,000 US dollars indicates that my country is entering the ranks of middle-income countries, and the rise of middle-class people is a high-quality soil for the development of the life insurance industry; on the other hand, the post-80s and 90s have grown into social middle forces, and the consumption concepts, living habits, and risk preferences of the new generation of groups is different from the traditional customer group, and the existing insurance agent team is generally aging in age and concepts, which is different from the professional needs of the mainstream customer group;
From the perspective of development laws: The life insurance industry was mainly driven by human resources in the early stage, with agents entering and leaving large numbers, and developing to a new stage. Organizational development has shifted from " demographic dividend " to "talent dividend", and the rapid decline in scale and manpower is an inevitable trend.
2021 quickly clear the emptiness, gradually consolidated in 2022, the era of "big water and big fish" ended, the era of "deep cultivation of fish ponds" has arrived, and excellent growth has become the basic strategy for organizational development, and the new population is tilted towards high-quality, new generation, and main urban areas. Major life insurance companies have launched performance optimization team training systems, and gradually consolidated the team structure of insurance agents will be gradually optimized.
⑦ Product innovation: From "+Health" to "Ecology+"
products are the core carrier of life insurance operations, providing customers with protection and services through products.
life insurance company has designed personal insurance products such as accident insurance, health insurance, and life insurance around the life cycle of people, and has innovatively expanded to new forms such as critical illness insurance, annuity insurance, universal insurance, and investment-linked insurance.
Product Homogeneity Competition is one of the prominent problems in the development of my country's life insurance industry. After the market-oriented reform of fees, the innovation vitality of my country's life insurance industry has been further released. The leading insurance insurance company in the regulatory authorities is the basic direction of product innovation and specification.
While rich in form and returning to protection, the product value-added system featuring health services is constantly being improved. "Product + Health" has become the basic configuration of life insurance products, providing customers with products such as medical treatment, Green Pass , health testing, online consultation, medical consultation, pension care and other services.
With the diversification of customer needs and market competition, the main battlefield of product innovation has shifted to the construction of an ecosystem. On the one hand, it builds an online and offline digital ecosystem, and on the other hand, it creates a big health ecosystem for elderly care and medical care. "Ecology + Product" helps product innovation and upgrading and breaking the circle.
Conclusion: 30 is the first to stand
" Analects of Confucius·Politics ": "I am determined to learn at thirty, and I am the first to stand thirty."
"The Analects of Confucius·Taibo": "If you don't know etiquette, you can't stand."
"The first to stand" means that people can achieve something when they are polite around the age of thirty.
in 1992, introducing the insurance agent system into the mainland, opening a new chapter in the rapid development of China's life insurance industry. Looking back on the 30 years of development of life insurance marketing, it has achieved great achievements and great problems.
2022, an important node in the 30-year history of China's life insurance marketing, deeply analyze the current situation from the perspective of historical cycles, analyze and judge development trends from the perspective of development laws, create new opportunities in crises, and create new situations in changing situations. There is great changes unseen in a century, and there is great potential for the development of life insurance.
adheres to the core concept of high-quality development and builds a country;
adheres to the long-term business philosophy and make achievements;
adheres to the development path of innovation and change, and becomes famous.
2022, prerequisites are established.
(the author's unit is Taikang Life Insurance)
