Launch Meeting of "Start Sailing - Chinese Insurance Industry Taking the International Stage" and Inauguration of the Academy of Internet Finance (Beijing Office)
2017-03-23 IMI
At the start of the meeting, Mr. Li Jun, former president of Bank of Communications, and Prof. Ben Shenglin, founding dean of the Academy of Internet Finance and executive director of IMI, inaugurated the Beijng Office of the Academy of Internet Finance.
On the launch meeting, Prof. Ben interpreted the report in details. The report first analyzes the overall development environment faced by the Chinese insurance industry from four aspetcs: economic and social environment, policy supervision environment, market development environment and technological environment. He pointed out that in the post-crisis era, the international economic and financial environment has undergone tremendous changes, which has exerted a profound impact on the operation mode and development trend of Chinese insurance companies. As China is increasingly open to the outside world, taking the international stage for the Chinese insurance companies has become an important means to deepen the development of China’s insurance market.
In this context, based on a systematic examiniation of the internationalization of China’s insurance market, the report Start Sailing - Chinese Insurance Industry Taking the International Stage proposes “Ten Key Events in the Intenationalization of China’s Insurance Market”. Furthermore, report analyzes sixteen Chinese insurance companies in four categories. On this basis it also constructs the Insurance Internationalization Index (III) using quantitative method to measure the degree of internationalization.
Based on the III, the current top five Chinese insurance companies are China Taiping Insurance Holings Company Limited, Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China Ltd., insurance business of Fosun Group, Anbang Insurance Group, and China Life Insurance Company Ltd. Chinese insurance companies are characterized by three features, namely the deepening internationalization, diversified location selection and multiple means of internationalization. However, the gap among the companies is still obvious. The average III of three famous international insurance companies reaches 65.03 while the average III of the top five Chinese insurance companies only scores 20.05.
In addition, the report also analyzes four representative international insurance companies, namely AXA Group (AXA), American International Group (AIG), Prudential Public Limited Company and Nippon Life Insurance Company, regarding the background, means, current situation, difficulties and challenges of internationalization, aiming to provide implications for the development of Chinese insurance companies.
At last, based on the preliminary research, the report discusses the future growth of the Chinese insurance industry and puts forward the cooresponding strategy and suggestions for the internationalization of these companies.
Mr. Li Jun, former president of the Bank of Communications, stated that research on the internationalization of Chinese insurance companies can draw lessons from that of the banking industry, using proportion of the overseas income and asset scale to measure the degree of internationalization.
Prof. Wei Li, director of Insurance Department of Renmin Unviersity, mentioned that the Chinese insurance companies do not poessess internationalization foundation right now, but on the other hand, Chinese insurance companies take responsibility in One Belt and One Road Initiative. The insurance industry needs risk diversification on a global scale, so it is an industry with the gene of internationalization.
Mr. Zhou Daoxu, president of Huarong International Trust Co., Ltd., emphasized that internationalization can be achieved through active and passive ways. At present, Chinese insurance industry is developing rapidly, but falls behind in terms of risk control, scientific research, and talent pool. Thus, the insurance industry should take the internationalization initiative proactively which is in line with the national strategy and the rise of China.
Mr. Zhou Shangzhi, general manager of the Key Account Department of the China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation, shared some views on the internationalization of Chinese insurance industry based on his own working experience. He held that the scale, penetration rate, and coverage of Chinses credit insurance industry have exceeded the world average, and hopefully in the future, Chinese insurance companies will start sailing on the international stage.
Ms. Zhao Haiying, chief risk officer of China Investment Corporation, spoke highly of the III proposed in the report. She highlighted that the quality of talents and management is very important for internationalization. China is a growing market, but growth will eventually return to value; thus, we should not ignore the growth quality.
Mr. Dong Jianguo, Head of Innovation Department of the People’s Insurance Company (Group) of China Limited, held that the security function of insurance industry attracts more attention from the government and the people. Since China’s access into the WTO, Chinese insurance companies are doing well under the pressure of an open financial market and the competition of foreign insurance institutions. He believed that in the future, Chinese insurance companies will develop more efficiently in the international market and build an industry chain through internationalization.
