Our reporter Leng Cuihua

　　The exit of insurer branches is accelerating.

According to the latest statistics from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, 2,197 insurance branches will withdraw from the market in 2021, compared with 971 in 2020.

In 2021, there will be a net decrease of 448 branches of insurance companies in 2021.

　　Analysts believe that the accelerated withdrawal of branches of insurance companies is not unrelated to the sluggish industry development.

At a deeper level, with the continuous improvement of the online, automation and digitalization of the insurance industry, the insurance business will become less and less dependent on physical outlets.

The number of life insurance branches decreased by more than 1,000

　　According to statistics from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, in 2021, a total of 2,197 insurance branches will withdraw from the market. At the same time, a total of 1,749 branches of insurance companies were established last year. Based on this calculation, there will be a net decrease of 448 insurance institutions last year.

In addition, 243 insurance institutions were out of control last year (referring to the fact that the insurance licenses matching the serial numbers of the certificates were out of control and were determined to be invalid by the regulatory authorities).

　　In the case of the overall net decrease in the branches of insurance companies, property insurance companies and life insurance companies show obvious differences.

From the perspective of property and casualty insurance companies, the number of newly established institutions will still exceed the number of exited institutions in 2021, with a net increase of about 600 branches, while a total of 1,382 branches of life insurance companies have withdrawn and 339 new branches have been established, a net decrease of 1,043.

　　In fact, it is not easy for an insurance company to open a branch.

On September 13, 2021, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the "Administrative Measures for Market Access of Branches of Insurance Companies", requiring insurance companies to set up branch offices should make overall planning, rational layout, prudent decision-making, and strict management.

An insurance company with a registered capital of 200 million yuan shall increase its registered capital by not less than 20 million yuan for each application to establish a provincial branch outside its domicile.

If the registered capital is more than 500 million yuan, it can no longer be increased.

　　The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission pointed out that branches of insurance companies should have the ability to continue operating and provide services.

If a branch of an insurance company does not have basic operating conditions, is seriously lacking in service capabilities, has major hidden risks, etc. in the course of business operations, or cancels a branch due to strategic adjustment, it shall file an application for branch cancellation.

　　In September last year, the Qinghai Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau rejected the application of a property insurance company to set up five branch companies in one breath, on the grounds that the company had been punished by insurance administration within the past year.

At the same time, the Heyuan Supervision Branch of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission did not allow a personal insurance company to change the address because the house at the new site was separated from the store next door only by thin plywood, and the back door of the house was a dilapidated wooden door.

Open source difficulties have to be throttled

　　Why did insurance companies choose to quit on a large scale when they set up branches with great effort?

Industry insiders believe that the sluggish development of the industry is the main reason, and the trend of digitalization also has a certain impact.

　　"The main reason for the accelerated withdrawal of branches of insurance companies is the lack of industry growth sources, and they can only rely on throttling to reduce costs and improve performance." Zhou Jin, a partner of PwC China's financial industry management consulting, told the "Securities Daily" reporter.

　　He said that the challenges and performance decline of life insurance in 2021 are more obvious than that of property and casualty insurance, and more branches have withdrawn. Property and casualty insurance companies have been vigorously expanding non-auto insurance business in the past few years. For auto insurance with a higher degree of operation concentration, the non-auto insurance business needs more offline institutions to expand and serve, so it is reasonable and reasonable for the institutions of property insurance companies to show a net increase.

Another industry insider added that with the continuation of the epidemic, the development of Internet insurance and other factors, the way of life insurance business expansion is also changing, and the reliance on the physical outlets of insurance companies has declined, which is also the reason why life insurance companies have withdrawn more. reason.

　　From the perspective of different regions, Zhou Jin believes that areas with high levels of residents' wealth and little impact from the epidemic should be hot spots for new insurance companies to set up institutions, and sinking markets in cities below the third tier are the main areas for exit.

　　An insider of a property insurance company told reporters that if the cost of a provincial branch is minimized, the annual operating cost is about 2 million yuan, and the annual operating cost of a marketing service department can be controlled within 100,000 yuan.

"No matter what level of organization, it has business responsibilities and needs to produce benefits." He said.

Judging from the situation in the past two years, the more it sinks into the market, the more difficult it is for the lower-level branches to generate benefits. Therefore, the most withdrawn organization is the marketing service department.

　　Regarding the future trend of the branches of insurance companies, Zhou Jin said that from the overall trend, with the continuous improvement of the online, automation and digitalization of the insurance industry, the insurance business will inevitably rely less and less on physical outlets.

However, it should also be noted that the proportion of services in insurance demand is getting higher and higher, and some services are still largely dependent on offline scenarios and physical locations. Therefore, the number and quality of branches are still the core of differentiated competition among insurance companies. factor.

　　"Opening a branch is the traditional idea of ​​pursuing a large and comprehensive way, and the improvement of digitalization may bring changes to this idea." The insider of the above-mentioned insurance company said.

　　Zhou Jin said that the current digitalization process of the insurance industry is in a state of differentiation. On the one hand, leading insurance companies continue to increase investment in digital infrastructure and technology talents, carry out digital transformation from the top-level structure, and continue to iteratively upgrade, digitalization has entered the deep water area. On the other hand, small and medium-sized insurance companies are struggling to survive and are still struggling to maintain short-term cash flow. They are unable to plan for the future in the digital field, and their digital transformation is still stuck in the "talk on the wall". stage.

The future market competition is the competition of core competencies, and digital capability is undoubtedly one of the most important competencies. Therefore, the future industry differentiation will be more obvious.

(Securities Daily)