In the first half of the year, the premium income of life insurance declined, and the scale of investment-linked insurance increased significantly.
Investment insurance, can I buy it with confidence?
Our reporter Yu Yong and Li Chenyang
The latest data from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission show that in the first half of this year, the original premium income of life insurance companies was 197.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 1.07%.
However, investment-linked insurance has achieved contrarian expansion.
In the first half of the year, personal insurance companies’ investment-linked insurance independent accounts paid 38.4 billion yuan in new fees, an increase of 117% year-on-year. Not only did the scale increase significantly, the investment-linked insurance’s phased performance was also relatively stable.
Investment-linked insurance stands for investment-linked insurance, which integrates protection and investment. When an insurance policy provides life insurance, its value and insured amount depend on the investment performance.
According to data from Huabao Securities, in the first half of this year, of the 212 investment-linked accounts included in the statistics, 193 made positive returns, accounting for 91% of the total.
Low interest rates or the main reason for doubling the scale
Wang Xujin, director of the Insurance Research Center of Beijing Technology and Business University, said in an interview with the Economic Daily that the scale of investment-linked insurance doubled in the first half of this year. On the one hand, it was due to the poor performance of existing major investment channels, low bank deposit rates and volatility in the capital market. Larger, investment-linked insurance has become an insurance category that more and more investors pay attention to.
On the other hand, investment-linked insurance has a certain substitution effect on universal insurance.
Compared with the past, the performance of universal insurance in the first half of this year was not satisfactory, which increased the attractiveness of investment-linked insurance to a certain extent.
The reporter learned in the interview that the income of investment-linked insurance mainly comes from the profits made by the insured through the insurance company's investment in the capital markets such as stocks, funds, bonds, and currencies.
In the investment account part, investment-linked insurance can set up multiple investment accounts under the same insurance type. Investors can choose which account to put their funds into according to their own risk tolerance and investment needs.
At the same time, the payment method of investment-linked insurance is flexible. When the market environment changes, policyholders can adjust the asset allocation ratio of different investment accounts according to their own needs, so as to realize the adjustment of income expectations and control of risks.
Taking the classification of Huabao Securities as an example, investment-linked accounts include index accounts, aggressive accounts, hybrid accounts, bond accounts, currency accounts, and fixed-income-like accounts.
Among them, the proportion of equity allocation in radical accounts is the highest, at more than 70%, followed by the proportion of equity allocation in hybrid accounts.
In the first half of this year, there were 11 investment-linked insurance accounts with a return rate of over 10%, including 7 aggressive accounts and 4 hybrid accounts; 6 investment-linked insurance accounts with a return rate of over 15%, including 4 aggressive accounts , 2 hybrid accounts.
Wang Xiangnan, deputy director of the Insurance and Economic Development Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the capital market has returned relatively well last year. After consumers have seen an increase in the level of income, many people have increased the allocation of investment insurance.
In addition, although universal insurance is relatively strong in investment, its higher settlement rate was generally lowered after some insurance companies were interviewed in August last year, which highlights the advantages of investment-linked insurance.
At present, insurance companies are actively adjusting the management mechanism of individual agents, and the role of crowd tactics has weakened. Investment-linked insurance mostly relies on self-bank insurance channels, and the impact is relatively small.
"When the market improves, the funds in the stable hedging account will be converted to a more active growth account to obtain additional income; when the market fluctuates sharply, the reverse operation will be carried out, which is important for insurance products that value the value-added ability of the product. As far as people are concerned, it can better meet their demands.” According to analysis by industry insiders, more and more policyholders expect products to have protection functions as well as wealth appreciation capabilities, so investment-linked insurance is naturally favored.
There are advantages and shortcomings
Since investment-linked insurance has such flexibility, is it more "beatable" than bank wealth management products, brokerage asset management products, and securities investment funds?
Wang Xiangnan believes that investment-linked insurance has its own advantages compared with bank wealth management products and funds.
That is, all investment-linked insurance products have a basic risk protection function, which manages the insured's money on the basis of protection.
At present, insurance companies generally operate steadily, and the risk of incomplete compliance is very low.
Like the two sides of a coin, investment-linked insurance also has shortcomings.
In recent years, various management expenses of investment-linked insurance have been continuously reduced, but the total expenses are still higher than that of funds and bank wealth management products with similar investment structures.
The reporter checked the contract texts of a variety of investment-linked insurance products and found that investment-linked insurance charges mainly include initial costs, risk premiums, account and asset management fees, handling fees, and surrender fees.
The initial cost is the cost deducted from the premium paid before entering the investment account, and it is also a cost that has a greater impact on the policyholder.
In addition, regardless of whether there is a profit, the insurance company will charge a handling fee incurred when the capital is operated.
"From the perspective of existing products, the investment styles of different investment-linked insurance are relatively small. For example, there are fewer products for policyholders to choose from in the high-yield and high-risk categories." Wang Xiangnan said.
In fact, the net worth performance of investment-linked insurance is closely related to the strength of the investment research team of the insurance company and the investment ability of the trading manager.
Insurance companies set up separate investment accounts for policyholders, which are operated by dedicated investment experts. The operation of the investment part is transparent. The charging proportions of various fees are listed item by item. The structure, purpose, and price of the premium will be listed, and will be reviewed every month. Announce the investment unit price to the customer, and the customer will receive an annual report every year.
"Although the overall investment style of insurance funds is stable and the operation team is also very professional, investment-linked insurance accounts are linked to the market. Especially for radical accounts, the rate of return is closely related to the cold and warm capital market. As the market fluctuates, investment-linked insurance may be large. Earnings may also lead to huge losses, and the risks are entirely borne by investors." An insurance asset management practitioner told reporters.
"Due to the small base of the investment-linked insurance market, it is more sensitive to market fluctuations." Wang Xujin believes that although investment-linked insurance has a higher risk, as the national income level continues to rise, the demand for insurance products has become more diversified.
Demand guides supply, and investment-linked insurance, an insurance product with outstanding investment functions, can also meet certain aspects of different levels of market demand.
High risk tests investor tolerance
It is worth noting that buying investment-linked insurance may not be able to get high returns, or even losses.
In other words, the investment account does not promise investment returns, and all investment gains and losses in the investment account are borne by the policyholder.
Moreover, compared with other wealth management products, investment-linked insurance has a longer investment period, and the principal cannot be withdrawn within a certain period of time, otherwise it will cause losses.
"For people with strong short-term funding needs or low- and middle-income groups, it is not suitable to purchase investment-linked insurance." Wang Xujin said that investment-linked insurance is more suitable for higher income levels, focusing on investment, supplemented by protection, and pursuing high returns on funds An aggressive policyholder with a high risk tolerance.
Wang Xiangnan believes that for the insurance industry, it is necessary not only to increase the degree of protection against purely short-term risks such as various natural disasters, accidents and diseases, but also to pay attention to the new risks contained in technological progress and social structural changes. Pay attention to the medium and long-term risks brought by aging and economic cycle changes.
Insurance companies can design investment-linked insurance products based on the risks that policyholders have already recognized, and vigorously enrich product types. Through different combinations of investment fields, investment periods and investment targets, the value of the account can better reflect the risk protection for policyholders. Role.
For investors with risk tolerance, if they decide to purchase investment-linked insurance, experts suggest that they should first choose formal channels for insurance, and carefully evaluate their own economic conditions and risk tolerance before signing a contract; secondly, read each insurance clause carefully. Missing any details. If there is anything unclear, please ask the customer service staff to answer questions in time, and sign the insurance after knowing all the contents of the insurance contract. It is important to note that as an insurance product, investment-linked insurance also has a "hesitation period", that is, within a certain number of days after receiving the insurance contract, the insured can return the contract to the insurer and apply for cancellation if he disagrees with the content of the insurance contract. However, because of the link to the investment account, if the insured chooses to invest during the hesitation period, even if he surrenders the insurance during the hesitation period, he may not get all the premiums back.