Our reporter Su Xianggao
On November 22, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the "Notice on Matters Concerning Insurance Companies' Development of Personal Pension Business" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") on its official website.
The "Notice" clarifies the basic requirements for insurance companies to carry out personal pension business, and also proposes that insurance companies can provide qualified annuity insurance and endowment insurance to participants in the personal pension system.
Industry experts and people from insurance companies interviewed said that compared with the previous draft for comments, the officially issued "Notice" mainly relaxes the requirements for insurance companies participating in the personal pension business, which is an important breakthrough.
However, the threshold is still relatively high, and it is estimated that only less than 30 insurance companies can participate.
In the future, the threshold for insurance companies should be lowered in due course to support more market players to participate in the personal pension market.
Insurance companies must meet seven conditions
Regarding the basic requirements for insurance companies to develop personal pension business, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission stated: "The main choice is to participate in companies with stronger capital strength and more standardized operations."
Specifically, the "Notice" clarifies that insurance companies that meet the seven major conditions can carry out personal pension business: first, the owner's equity at the end of the previous year is not less than 5 billion yuan and not lower than the company's share capital (paid-in capital) 75%; second, the comprehensive solvency adequacy ratio at the end of the previous year was not lower than 150%, and the core solvency adequacy ratio was not lower than 75%; third, the liability reserve coverage ratio at the end of the previous year was not lower than 100%; fourth , the comprehensive risk rating in the last four quarters is not lower than category B; fifth, has not received any major administrative penalties from financial regulatory agencies in the last three years; sixth, has a complete information management system, and realizes the system with the personal pension information platform of the banking and insurance industry Connect, and perform information registration and interaction according to relevant requirements; seventh, other conditions stipulated by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.
In this regard, Zhu Junsheng, head of research at the China Insurance and Pension Research Center of the PBC School of Finance at Tsinghua University and former deputy director of the Insurance Research Office of the Financial Research Institute of the Development Research Center of the State Council, told the "Securities Daily" reporter: "From the perspective of quantitative indicators, the threshold is relatively high. At present, there may not be more than 30 insurance companies that are qualified to operate personal pension business.”
The reporter sorted out the third-quarter solvency reports disclosed by life insurance companies and noticed that if other factors were not considered, only 27 insurance companies met the first four rigid conditions of the seven major conditions of the "Notice", accounting for 91 of the entire market. 29.7% of the company.
"Setting the operating threshold is conducive to the industry's concentration of superior resources to participate in the personal pension market, but it is not conducive to more market players participating in this incremental market." Zhu Junsheng said that in addition to enjoying tax incentives, personal pension products need to be developed in terms of product form. Apart from meeting some regulatory requirements, there is no essential difference from other life insurance products at the regulatory level. Therefore, the necessity of setting a higher operating threshold is open to question.
In addition, the restrictions on the qualifications of business entities prevent quite a few market entities from participating in the personal pension market, which may be detrimental to the cross-industry competition between the insurance industry and other financial industries.
It is worth noting that the "Notice" also clarifies that pension insurance companies with prominent pension businesses, standardized business development, and sound internal management mechanisms can be exempted from Article 1, which states that the owner's equity at the end of the previous year shall not be less than 5 billion yuan and not less than 5 billion yuan. 75% of the company's share capital (paid-in capital)".
In this regard, the relevant person in charge of Hengan Standard Pension said that this regulation will help encourage and support professional pension insurance companies to take advantage of their specialization and participate in the construction of the national multi-level and multi-pillar pension security system. The layout of pension insurance products and services, and the innovation of pension business provide important development opportunities.
Zhu Junsheng also said that the requirements for pension insurance companies have been relaxed. This is an important breakthrough, which can support pension insurance companies to play their professional advantages and participate in the personal pension business.
Products should meet the four requirements
According to the "Notice", insurance companies that carry out personal pension business can provide annuity insurance, endowment insurance, and other products identified by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (hereinafter collectively referred to as personal pension insurance products).
Zhu Junsheng said that annuity insurance, endowment insurance and other products recognized by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission that meet certain conditions can be included in the scope of personal pension products and enjoy preferential tax policies.
At present, various financial institutions such as insurance, funds, banks, and bank wealth management subsidiaries are exploring the third pillar of the personal pension market in different ways, and a cross-industry competition pattern has initially formed.
Expanding the scope of insurance tax-preferential products will help increase the attractiveness of insurance products and enhance the position of the insurance industry in the personal pension market.
Specifically, the "Notice" clarifies that personal pension insurance products should meet the following requirements: the insurance period should not be shorter than 5 years; status; be able to provide single payment, regular payment or irregular payment and other methods to meet the payment requirements of individual pension system participants; other requirements stipulated by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.
Zhu Junsheng believes that the term requirements for personal pension insurance products are conducive to giving full play to the competitive advantages of the insurance industry.
The requirement that the insurance period is not shorter than 5 years, on the one hand, reflects the supervision and policy orientation of strengthening the long-term attributes of endowment insurance products, and on the other hand, there is no regulation on the insurance period being too long, which makes insurance products and pension funds, pension wealth management and other products The similar duration is conducive to fair competition in different industries under roughly the same rules.
The insurance industry can make use of its unique advantages in products, diversification of longevity risks, and organic integration with pension services to increase the return on investment of long-term pension funds and become the core strength of the third pillar of development.
It is worth noting that the previous "old products" can also be included in personal pension insurance products.
The "Notice" mentioned that insurance companies can incorporate existing insurance products into personal pension insurance products by applying for approval or filing of changes in insurance terms and premium rates.
For exclusive commercial endowment insurance products that have already been approved, the insurance company shall submit the above-mentioned explanatory materials to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, and there is no need to apply for approval to change the insurance terms and premium rates separately.
In addition, the reporter was informed that during the period of soliciting opinions before the release of the "Notice", many insurance companies had already actively prepared for the personal pension business. The gold business landed.
Among them, the relevant person in charge of Hengan Standard Pension told reporters that the "Notice" is of great significance to the insurance industry's participation in the third pillar of the country's personal pension business.
In terms of services and systems, the company has planned and built a digitalized commercial pension insurance information management system, established a full-line operation management mechanism and an insurance business platform, and realized an integrated service model from front-end marketing to back-end operation management.
(Securities Daily)