As of March 17, all the five major A-share listed insurance companies had issued premium income data for the first two months of this year. On the whole, the year-on-year growth rate of life insurance premiums of listed insurance companies showed a slow recovery trend, while the property insurance premiums showed a rapid growth of “exceeding market expectations”.
According to the reporter’s statistics, from January to February, Ping An Insurance (Group) Company Of China Ltd(601318) , China Life Insurance Company Limited(601628) , China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co.Ltd(601601) , The People’S Insurance Company (Group) Of China Limited(601319) , New China Life Insurance Company Ltd(601336) the total premium income of the five listed insurance enterprises was 734.83 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.9%, which continued to increase compared with the growth rate in January (1.86%).
In terms of business, in the first two months, the total premium of the life insurance business of the five listed insurance companies increased by 0.04% year-on-year, slightly higher than the growth rate in January (0.19%); The total premium of property insurance business increased by 13.3% year-on-year, continuously higher than the year-on-year growth rate in January (11.96%). Gaogao, an analyst at Kaiyuan securities, believes that in the first two months, the growth rate of property insurance premiums exceeded market expectations, while life insurance premiums were affected by human scale, epidemic and other reasons, and the growth rate of new single premiums was under pressure.
CPIC property insurance has the fastest growth rate
Premium growth rate is one of the important indicators to judge the latest operation of listed insurance enterprises.
In the first two months, benefiting from the recovery of auto insurance business, property insurance premiums increased rapidly. From January to February, the total premiums of the “old three” PICC Property Insurance, Ping An Property Insurance and CPIC property insurance were 170.24 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.24%, higher than the growth rate of the total premiums of the five major insurance enterprises.
Auto insurance has always been the core of property insurance business. In 2021, auto insurance premium accounted for 60% of the total premium of property insurance. On September 19, 2021, the first anniversary of the comprehensive reform of auto insurance, the growth rate of auto insurance premium ended the previous negative growth for many months, and the auto insurance premium continued to drive the recovery of property insurance premium for more than four months.
From the perspective of different property insurance companies, the premiums of PICC Property Insurance, Ping An Property Insurance and CPIC property insurance in the first two months were 91.76 billion yuan, 47.53 billion yuan and 30.95 billion yuan respectively, with a year-on-year increase of 13.65%, 10.97% and 15.66% respectively. In comparison, CPIC property insurance grew the fastest.
“The year-on-year growth rate of property insurance business of listed insurance companies in February was higher than that in January, exceeding market expectations. From the year-on-year growth rate of the ‘old three’ in February, CPIC property insurance was 22.5% (12.7% in January), Ping An Property Insurance was 17.6% (8.2% in January) and PICC Property Insurance was 13.4% (13.8% in January). It is expected that the year-on-year growth rate of property insurance premium will continue to be high, mainly due to the continuous year-on-year higher than expected growth of automobile insurance premium and the better performance of accident insurance and health insurance.”
Among the “old three”, PICC Property Insurance also disclosed segment business data. In a single month in February, its auto insurance premium was 14 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.9%, and the year-on-year growth rate increased for five consecutive months; The premium income of accident insurance and health insurance was 10.97 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.8%.
On the development trend of property insurance this year, the person in charge of an insurance intermediary told reporters that the proportion of auto insurance premium in property insurance premium has been very high, which determines that the property insurance industry has been more dependent on auto insurance for many years. However, the problems of the auto insurance industry in the past are also more obvious, that is, the product homogenization is serious, the premium growth depends on channels, and the price war is the main means of competition, which leads to the flow of operating profits of auto insurance from insurance enterprises to channels. Third, it is hoped that the growth rate of the auto insurance industry will be inclined to the interests of consumers, that is, to balance the interests of the auto insurance industry.
“In the long run, on the one hand, with the gradual weakening of the impact of the comprehensive reform of auto insurance on the growth rate of industry premium, the growth rate of property insurance premium will regain its upward trend. On the other hand, unlike life insurance, auto insurance has a certain rigid demand nature and is less affected by the macro economy than life insurance. In the future, with the development of UBI and new energy auto insurance, some leading property insurance companies and insurance companies focusing on the use of scientific and technological means will have development advantages.” The person in charge of the intermediary said.
life insurance industry is still in the recovery stage
Unlike property insurance, the growth rate of life insurance premium is still slow. The continuous loss of agents, the spread of the epidemic, weak terminal demand and other negative factors continued to impact the premium growth of the life insurance industry.
From the perspective of the premium of life insurance business of listed insurance companies, the premium of China Life Insurance Company Limited(601628) , Ping An Life Insurance, CPIC life insurance, PICC Life Insurance and New China Life Insurance Company Ltd(601336) in the first two months were 241.2 billion yuan, 128.79 billion yuan, 73.89 billion yuan, 53.38 billion yuan and 46.38 billion yuan respectively, with a year-on-year increase of – 5.04%, – 1.61%, 2.34%, 26.45% and 5.2%. On the whole, the growth rate of this business of different listed insurance companies is divided.
With regard to the life insurance business, Wang Weiyi, an analyst at Ping An Securities, believes that the switching between the old and new definitions of serious illness since February last year has led to a high base of new policy premiums of serious illness insurance. Superimposed on the decline in the number of managers in 2022 and the return to normal sales rhythm, it is expected that the new policy premiums of major listed insurance companies will still show a double-digit decline. From February 2022, major listed insurance companies began to promote increased life insurance products, which may become another business highlight under the background of falling interest rates and increasing demand for old-age security.
The person in charge of the marketing department of a branch of a listed insurance enterprise in Beijing told reporters that the sales of high-value businesses in the first two months of this year, such as products with a term of 10 years or more, are not easy. Coupled with the continuous loss of marketers, the premium growth of the life insurance industry is still under heavy pressure. At present, some insurance companies in the market are promoting increased life insurance, and the company also has related products, but consumers’ enthusiasm for increased life insurance is not as enthusiastic as the previous company’s main serious illness insurance.
Senior actuary Xu Yuchen told reporters that this year’s life insurance industry is relatively difficult. On the one hand, the exhibition industry of life insurance products focuses on offline channels, but the epidemic has repeatedly and continuously affected the exhibition industry of insurance enterprises; On the other hand, the epidemic will impact residents’ insurance needs from the demand side; Moreover, in recent two years, with the emergence of Huimin insurance, it has formed a substitution effect on products such as serious illness insurance, which accounts for a large proportion of insurance premiums.
