The pilot program of exclusive commercial endowment insurance has gone through a course of one year.
In June 2021, six large insurance companies will officially launch a pilot program of exclusive commercial endowment insurance in Zhejiang Province and Chongqing City. On March 1 this year, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission further expanded the main body of insurance companies participating in the pilot program and expanded the scope of the pilot program to the whole country.
According to the data, as of the end of April 2022, a total of 120,000 exclusive commercial endowment insurance policies have been underwritten, with a cumulative premium of nearly 900 million yuan. Among them, more than 15,000 employees in new industries and new formats such as couriers and online car-hailing drivers have been insured.
Zhu Junsheng, research director of the China Insurance and Pension Research Center of the PBC School of Finance, Tsinghua University, told the "Daily Economic News" reporter that the framework of the personal pension system has been released, and the exclusive commercial pension insurance can be included in this framework to obtain tax deferred and other taxes. Favorable policy support to enhance the attractiveness of exclusive products.
Pension insurance companies are actively preparing products
According to the "Notice on Launching the Pilot Program of Exclusive Commercial Endowment Insurance" issued by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, from June 1, 2021, the pilot program of exclusive commercial endowment insurance will be officially launched in Zhejiang Province (including Ningbo City) and Chongqing City. year.
The first pilot units include China Life, PICC Life, Taiping Life, CPIC Life, Taikang Life and New China Insurance. In July 2021, PICC Life will sell the first product in the industry, and the remaining five pilot companies will complete the sales of the first product in September 2021.
According to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, as of the end of January 2022, the six pilot companies have underwritten nearly 50,000 insurance policies, with a cumulative premium of 400 million yuan, of which nearly 10,000 employees from new industries and new formats such as couriers and online car-hailing drivers have insured.
On February 21 this year, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission officially issued the "Notice on Expanding the Pilot Scope of Exclusive Commercial Endowment Insurance". From March 1, 2022, the pilot area of exclusive commercial endowment insurance will be expanded to the whole country. On the basis of insurance companies, pension insurance companies are allowed to participate in the pilot program.
According to industry insiders, there are 9 pension insurance companies and 1 pension management company in China, but some pension insurance companies do not engage in insurance business and focus on annuity and other businesses.
The relevant person in charge of Ping An Pension pointed out that pension insurance companies engaged in insurance business participate in exclusive commercial pension insurance, which has the advantages of developing individual tax-deferred commercial pension insurance, opening up the second and third pillars of pension, and group insurance business. It is understood that Ping An Annuity is actively applying for products, polishing products according to exclusive requirements, focusing on key customer groups such as unconventional employment groups, and creating relevant terms scientifically and flexibly; To meet the scope of the implementation of the third pillar policy, allocate resources and actively prepare.
National Pension Insurance recently also stated on its official website that based on the positioning of a professional pension insurance institution, National Pension will actively participate in the construction of the third pillar pension insurance system, and promote the research and development of innovative commercial pension financial products that highlight pension attributes. The company's exclusive commercial pension A series of products with prominent pension attributes, such as insurance, are also being actively prepared.
The product scale is expected to increase exponentially
In this year's notice on expanding the scope of the exclusive commercial endowment insurance pilot program, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission stated that since the start of the exclusive commercial endowment insurance pilot program, the overall operation has been stable and the social response has been good. The characteristics of exclusive commercial endowment insurance, which is simple to purchase, flexible in payment, and stable in income, have gradually been understood and accepted by consumers. Accumulated experience in flexible employment.
As of the end of April 2022, the exclusive commercial pension insurance underwritten a total of 120,000 policies, with a cumulative premium of nearly 900 million yuan. Among them, more than 15,000 employees in new industries and new formats such as couriers and online car-hailing drivers have been insured.
Kaiyuan Securities predicted in its research report that considering the significant expansion of the scope of the pilot program, the number of pilot institutions has increased significantly (there are 10 pension insurance companies in total), and the scale of exclusive commercial pension insurance products may increase exponentially, but considering that in 2021, life insurance premium income will exceed 3.3 trillion yuan. As of the third quarter of 2021, traditional commercial pension annuity products have accumulated insurance liability reserves of 620 billion yuan, and the incremental proportion of exclusive commercial pension insurance may still be relatively low.
Zhu Junsheng analyzed and pointed out that because the regulatory authorities have many specific requirements on payment methods, accumulation period and collection period design, insurance liability, surrender rules, information disclosure and product management, the management costs of exclusive commercial endowment insurance products will be relatively high. High, increase the management cost of insurance companies, need a certain scale to dilute the cost and enhance the motivation of institutions to expand the market. Allowing more institutions to participate in the pilot program will promote competition among market players and improve the efficiency of market supply.
Zhu Junsheng also said that exclusive commercial endowment insurance adopts account-based management, which is essentially long-term savings. It is the key to improve the investment income of endowment insurance funds during a longer accumulation period. Especially with the introduction of the third pillar policy framework, funds, banks, trusts and other institutions will participate in the personal pension market. Investment income is the core of competition among different institutions, and the insurance industry will face great challenges.
"Regulators can guide insurance institutions to extend the assessment period, optimize the performance assessment system, and advocate the concept of long-term investment. Insurance institutions should improve their investment capabilities and improve the economic incentives and responsibility matching mechanisms for risk-taking." Zhu Junsheng suggested.
Tax incentives can be given to promote development
The seventh census data shows that in 2020, the population aged 60 and above will be 264.02 million, accounting for 18.70%. Compared with 2010, the proportion of the population aged 60 and above increased by 5.44 percentage points, and the aging degree of the population further deepened.
At the briefing meeting of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission in May this year, the person in charge of the relevant departments of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said that at present, commercial insurance with pension attributes has accumulated more than 4 trillion yuan of long-term pension funds for the people, and the innovative commercial pension financial pilot project Significant achievements have been made, and important milestones have been achieved in the reform and development of commercial pension finance.
Zhu Junsheng said that in order to promote the healthy development of exclusive commercial endowment insurance, it is necessary to link up with the third pillar and provide tax incentives. "The policy framework of the third pillar will implement a personal pension system based on the account system, voluntary participation of individuals, tax support from the state finance, and market-oriented investment and operation of funds. Connect to obtain tax incentives such as tax deferral and enhance the attractiveness of exclusive products.”
Kaiyuan Securities stated in the research report that the exclusive endowment insurance product is a variable annuity, which is flexible, long-term and stable. It is expected that the third pillar pension system will be based on the account system, with tax incentives as the incentive form. Considering that my country's resident deposits have exceeded 100 trillion yuan, it is assumed that after the implementation of the policy, resident deposits will be converted to the third pillar by 30%, and endowment insurance products will account for 30%. Compared with 15%, the scale of the third pillar pension insurance is expected to reach 4.6 trillion yuan.
The relevant person in charge of Ping An Annuity said that exclusive commercial pension insurance will become an important potential product form of the third pillar. Therefore, actively participating in the pilot will enable the company to gain the initiative in the competition and customer service of the third pillar in the future.
(Editor in charge: Ma Xin)
