How does the insurance industry make the pension "enjoy the old"
The personal pension system is an important part of the multi-level and multi-pillar pension insurance system.
According to the "Personal Pension Implementation Measures", participants can independently choose bank wealth management, savings deposits, commercial pension insurance, public funds, etc. according to different preferences.
On November 21, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the "Notice on Matters Concerning Insurance Companies' Development of Personal Pension Business", clarifying the basic requirements for insurance companies to carry out personal pension business, and mainly choose companies with strong capital strength and more standardized operations to participate; Insurance companies may provide qualified annuity insurance and endowment insurance to individual pension system participants.
So what are the advantages of insurance companies compared with other financial institutions in terms of innovative pension services?
What room for growth does the insurance industry have in terms of improving residents' old-age security?
Commercial pension insurance continues to expand
In 2017, the General Office of the State Council issued "Several Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Commercial Pension Insurance" to deploy and promote the development of commercial pension insurance.
The "Opinions" proposes to encourage and support commercial insurance institutions to develop diversified commercial endowment insurance products, and actively develop commercial endowment annuity insurance with high security, strong protection, and meeting the requirements for long-term or life-long payment.
At the annual meeting of the Financial Street Forum in 2022, Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, said that the current rapid increase in insurance products with pension attributes has accumulated more than 5 trillion yuan in pension liability reserves for the people.
Huang Tao, general manager of the National Pension Insurance, said that within the personal pension planning system, products should be understood, understood, and operated by ordinary people.
If insurance products are difficult to understand and confuse the common people, no matter how good the product is, it will be difficult to be accepted.
With the acceleration of the development of commercial pension insurance, the pension needs of the huge new citizen groups in various places are gradually emerging.
From June 2021, six insurance companies will carry out pilot projects of exclusive commercial endowment insurance in Zhejiang Province and Chongqing City.
Huang Tao believes that pension finance needs to make more efforts to improve the inclusiveness and availability of pension finance, locate the main service targets at the customers with the most urgent pension supplement needs, and do a good job in targeting new citizens. Pension financial services.
From March 1 this year, the pilot area of exclusive commercial pension insurance will be expanded to the whole country.
According to data from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, over the past year of the exclusive commercial endowment insurance pilot program, more than 250,000 people have insured, including 47,000 new industries, new types of workers and various flexible employment personnel.
A number of people in the industry said in an interview with a reporter from the Economic Daily that the policy has given insurance companies enough room to play, and pilot insurance companies have differentiated design products according to the different pension needs of the insured objects.
On November 11, the life insurance company under China Life Group launched a personal pension business area on its "China Life Insurance APP".
The reporter learned in the interview that in terms of personal pension product reserves, China Life Insurance Company has actively prepared a variety of personal pension products.
As of June 30, 2022, the group insurance channel of China Life Insurance Group's life insurance company underwrites more than 40 million elderly people, providing a protection amount of about 2.09 trillion yuan.
China Life also takes advantage of the long-term savings of annuity insurance to vigorously promote the insurance business with pension attributes. Over the past ten years, it has developed more than 50 related products, actively participated in the pilot work of tax-deferred pension and exclusive commercial pension insurance, and accumulated reserves of about 710 billion yuan. Provide fund reserves for the retirement of our customers.
Bai Tao, chairman of China Life Insurance Group, said that the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly proposed the development of a multi-level and multi-pillar pension insurance system. The market potential of the third pillar of pension business is huge, and the insurance industry has obvious advantages. China Life will give full play to its comprehensive financial and insurance advantages. , full of confidence to seize opportunities, continue to conduct in-depth research on customer needs, product positioning, system support, etc., firmly grasp the development initiative, and fully support the national strategy of actively responding to population aging.
How asset allocation moves through cycles
Assets and liabilities are the two wheels driving the performance growth of insurance companies. With the continuous increase of total assets, the investment income of insurance funds has become an important guarantee for annuity insurance and endowment insurance products to be received on schedule.
According to data from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, in the past ten years, the scale of insurance funds has increased from 6.27 trillion yuan to 24.71 trillion yuan, a cumulative increase of 2.94 times.
The investment income of insurance funds increased from 0.18 trillion yuan to 1.05 trillion yuan, with an average annual financial rate of return of 5.28%, achieving positive returns every year.
Mei Li, general manager of ABC Life, believes that due to the long-term characteristics of liabilities and solvency management requirements, insurance funds must pay attention to the risk of a decline in basic returns caused by changes in long-term interest rates or market trends when allocating assets.
In reality, most insurance companies pay more attention to long-term investment and focus on the allocation of long-term assets. By increasing the allocation of long-term bonds or deploying industrial equity with long-term value, the risks that may be brought about by the decline of long-term interest rates are controlled to a certain extent.
Among the many investment directions, ESG investment has become an important starting point for insurance funds to support the low-carbon transformation of the real economy and achieve stable returns.
According to the statistics of the Insurance Asset Management Association of China, as of the end of September 2022, the scale of registration (registration) involving green industries in the investment projects of insurance fund debt investment plans reached 1.05 trillion yuan; ) scale was 35.140 billion yuan; the scale of registration (registration) involving green industries in the investment of insurance private equity funds was 83.804 billion yuan.
Cao Deyun, executive vice president and secretary-general of the Insurance Asset Management Association, believes that ESG investment is in line with the logic of traditional insurance capital investment.
In terms of risk and return, insurance fund investment focuses on the long-term value basis of the investment object, focuses on the long-term stable return of assets, and has strict requirements on asset allocation and risk control in the investment portfolio.
ESG investment also focuses on whether long-term returns can be obtained, and whether the company has sustainable development capabilities is considered, which meets the risk-return management requirements of insurance funds.
From the perspective of asset allocation, insurance fund investment has expanded from traditional types such as bank deposits, bonds, and stocks to equity, real estate, asset management products, financial derivatives, securities lending, and public offering REITs.
The allocation structure of insurance funds is relatively stable, with current assets and fixed-income assets mainly accounting for more than 70%.
Huang Tao believes that in the long run, the proportion of equity investment in insurance funds should be appropriately increased. However, equity investment is not only secondary market stocks, but also should pay special attention to regional infrastructure projects, guiding industry funds, and new energy and new materials industries. coming investment opportunities.
The asset management of insurance companies must recognize the general trend, be consistent with the direction of national industrial policies and the overall situation of economic development, and make a solid foundation for insurance investment.
The "insurance + service" model can be expected in the future
Whether it is commercial pension insurance or other financial products, from the perspective of form, it can only solve the financial problems of the public in the retirement stage.
In fact, the elderly have a huge demand for nursing homes and medical care.
At present, the number of elderly care beds in my country is about 50% of the average in developed countries. The supply of nursing care for the disabled elderly is very scarce, and it is "hard to find a bed" in institutions with good combined medical and elderly care services.
People in the industry generally believe that the long-term nature of the insurance industry makes it possible for insurance companies to provide retirement places, facilities, and nursing services while providing economic security.
According to data from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, in recent years, insurance funds have participated in 59 retirement community projects, with a planned investment of more than 140 billion yuan. Many insurance companies have entered the construction of the pension security system from the perspective of retirement community construction.
From the perspective of service models, there are not only asset-heavy self-owned community construction, but also a service model embedded in the community to provide home care for the elderly.
Zhang Yanling, chairman of Love Life Insurance, said that the long-term care insurance that has been piloted in various places in recent years is a particularly important starting point for home-based care.
According to the analysis and research of Love Life Insurance in the process of handling, the pain point of home-based elderly care lies in long-term care, and the pain point of institutional elderly care lies in rehabilitation. The key to forming characteristics lies in professional nursing services.
Only by doing a good job in the service details can the care recipients truly feel the care and help.
Zhang Yanling believes that the growth and development, standardization and specialization of social pension service institutions are crucial to providing continuous care services. Insurance funds should be encouraged to actively participate in the construction of the pension service system while handling long-term care insurance, especially Using the long-term capital advantages of insurance to invest in pension service institutions is also an important manifestation of insurance supporting the real economy.
This will improve and promote the problem of small, scattered and chaotic pension service institutions.
In the long run, the management, experience and technology of insurance companies in elderly care communities can be infiltrated into community elderly care institutions and home-based elderly care, thereby comprehensively improving the elderly care service capabilities of the entire society.
During the interview, the reporter learned that Dajia Insurance Group regards pension as the core strategy of the group, launched a professional pension brand "Everyone's Home", and provided a variety of differentiated pension plans. The layout of the three elderly care product lines of "convalescence" and "home care" has explored home care centers in Beijing, providing elderly care services for more than 2,000 elderly people.
However, it is worth noting that the impact of the epidemic and economic shocks have had a significant impact on public insurance consumption. Driven by the mentality of avoiding risks and pursuing long-term stability, the public turned to insurance purchases, expecting more abundant products.
Mei Li believes that in the elderly care system that combines medical care and nursing care, it is necessary to establish a three-dimensional standardized process for nursing homes, nursing standards, and compensation standards as soon as possible.
This is of great significance for accelerating the promotion and standardization of the development of the "third pillar" pension insurance, promoting the growth of my country's total pension and optimizing its structure, and can also provide effective support for my country's pension system.
Yu Yong