Text丨Du Youyou, Editor丨Gray Gray, Half Comb
In the blink of an eye, 2024 will be halfway through.
You don't see it right now, the "618" promotion is in full swing. Discounts are not only the goods on the e-commerce shelves, but also the bancassurance channel products of insurance companies.
Compared with the data of the first quarter, the scale of bancassurance in the first five months can only be said to have improved slightly, but not much.
Industry data shows that compared with the same period last year, the "discount" of new orders and scheduled delivery has basically been given a 20% discount, and the top 10 new orders have been given a 7% discount. Looking at the handling fee of half discount, the only one that can resonate with the insurance company may be Pinduoduo.
Although on the whole, bancassurance has fallen off a cliff, but there are also those who have bucked the trend.
Just when everyone was discussing the decline of the "750 curve", the "integration of newspapers and banks", and the release of "1 to 3...... Players who have been dormant for a long time have already made continuous moves in the bancassurance field, and even made strategic moves.
Some companies that do not seem to match the temperament of bancassurance have also pulled up the banktail business and fought high. Even constraints such as "single payment quotas", which were very concerned in the past, are as light as a feather in the face of the so-called strategic opportunities now.
Under the squeeze of fee differentials and interest margins, under the "strict regulatory environment", coupled with weak corporate brands and solvency, and the constantly wavering hearts of shareholders, most small and medium-sized insurance companies are becoming more and more embarrassed and embarrassed in bancassurance, but they are also becoming more and more difficult to support and are trying to see the poor.
Perhaps, the new protagonist of the bancassurance drama is appearing -
1 Joint venture bancassurance grew by leaps and bounds, with new orders in May increasing by 65% year-on-year
Summer has arrived, and bancassurance is still suspended in the bitter cold.
As in previous months, most of the players who have long relied on bancassurance as the main channel continue to roll over.
In the first five months, among the more than 70 companies that started bancassurance business, only more than 20 achieved positive growth in new bancassurance orders, 16 companies fell by more than 50%, and only more than 10 companies experienced positive growth in futures. There are also about 20 companies whose new orders are worse than halved.
Among the companies with new orders and sharp declines in futures exchanges, CCB, Bank of China Samsung, Xinhua, Xincheng and other banking systems, old seven, and strong small and medium-sized companies are impressively listed. Zhonghui, Kunlun, Bainian and other companies that have not disclosed their solvency were also present. Yingda, Xiaokang, Peking University Founder, Three Gorges, etc. fell by more than 90%, almost zero.
Judging from the new orders, the premium scale of the old seven and ordinary small and medium-sized companies has basically fallen by 1/3. Venture companies and local state-owned assets are not much better, and the decline of more than 20% has put pressure on these companies.
As for banking companies, it is difficult to be optimistic that the negative growth of nearly 10% is also hardly optimistic. After all, under the "red, yellow and blue" system, banks generally sell the products of their own insurance companies before they can sell the products of other companies. However, the insurance companies under the command of the big banks have experienced negative growth, such as CCB's bancassurance has fallen by more than 50%.
Compared with these bitter owners, the 65% growth rate of new orders and 33% of the growth rate of future delivery of strong joint ventures even seems a bit outrageous.
Huatai Life Insurance's growth of more than 300% and Sino-British Life Insurance of more than 200% may be due to the low base. So, how to explain the new orders of Sino-US Luen Thai soaring from more than 1 billion yuan in the same period in 2023 to nearly 5 billion yuan this year, Zhongyi Life Insurance has doubled from 3 billion yuan to 6 billion yuan, and Zhonghong Life Insurance has nearly 9 billion yuan?
In addition to the head joint ventures, the joint ventures in the banking system can be regarded as saving the respect of the banking companies. For example, the growth of China and the Netherlands is more than 7 percent, and the growth of China Merchants Cigna is also more than 5 percent; Sun Life Everbright and ICBC AXA also achieved double-digit growth.
Although some companies have sacrificed part of the scale of delivery, at the moment when other competitors are shrinking, grabbing other people's customers should be a strategic goal. Otherwise, what is the value of spending a lot of money to build a bank insurance channel?
2. With low interest rates, good operating quality, and experience in global asset allocation, the joint venture may usher in a window period for business expansion
From a strategic point of view, there are two reasons for the growth of strong joint ventures against the trend.
One is that bank interest rates have been much lower, and "foreigners" feel that they can sell wealth management products. The second is that the operating quality of these companies is relatively high, and some Chinese-funded companies are relatively high, and they are less affected by the "integration of newspapers and banks".
From the perspective of interest rates, the current domestic interest rate level has dropped a lot compared with the past, and the risk of interest rate loss faced by insurance companies has declined at this time.
In the 90s, the reason why "foreigners" were reluctant to make wealth management products was precisely because the interest rate was too high and the risk of interest rate loss was too large. And next door, Japan has just experienced a sharp drop in interest rates in the short term, and there is a lesson from the collapse of insurance companies.
The first wave of the spread crisis, and even the investment-linked crisis that spawned from the resolution of the spread crisis, was the price of the first wave of expansion of the industry in the 90s.
Now, the spread loss has been "brace" for the second time, which is to pay for the crazy growth in the scale of premiums under asset-driven liabilities in the past decade.
Other small and medium-sized companies, especially the vast number of Chinese-funded small and medium-sized companies, can only watch from the sidelines. The reason may be the lack of strategic vision, experience, and strategic opportunities for global asset allocation.
After all, for wealth management insurance products, what is actually underwritten is the risk of interest rates, and the investment ability of the insurance company is the underwriting capacity.
If you only invest in the system, just as the reinsurance of property insurance is limited to a certain area, this will inevitably lead to the accumulation of risk rather than the sharing of risk. Because the risk is still in the system, it's just another "unlucky egg".
This is the dilemma faced by Chinese companies, as risks within a single system cannot be dispersed to other systems through the global allocation of assets, and if interest rates continue to fall, the risk of interest rate losses increases their exposure to spreads.
For joint ventures and foreign-funded companies, most of their foreign shareholders are international insurance giants. From the perspective of the investment consideration of the global chess game of its headquarters, even if the interest rate in the mainland market continues to fall, it is okay to "copy the bottom" in the middle of the mountain, and there are other markets at the strategic level to support the operation, and the strategic loss of the Chinese mainland market is acceptable.
From the perspective of business quality, most of these strong joint ventures and foreign-funded companies have a good foundation for individual insurance operation and have better control over the front end. After all, if the insurance company does not control the front-end well, then the roll fee becomes the only option.
However, the majority of Chinese-funded companies that lack front-end operation capabilities have been able to play the "small account" card in the bancassurance channel for more than a decade. Although a lot of money was spent, there was nothing on the front end that could settle down in the long run. At the end of the 5-year term, the customer surrendered the insurance under the "guidance" of the bank's wealth manager, and everything has to start all over again...
Not only that, but the grasp of the front-end also makes these joint ventures and foreign-funded companies relatively less affected by the "integration of newspapers and banks", after all, they are more "volume" in services rather than costs. Therefore, when Chinese-funded companies shrink for the winter, foreigners slamming on the accelerator may not be a strategic move.
Is it possible to speculate that these joint ventures, foreign companies, or a new wave of expansion may be ushered in?
3 The leading company bancassurance is still of strategic significance, and has new value in the layout of "bancassurance + health + pension".
In addition to the rapid expansion of strong joint ventures and foreign companies, the bancassurance channels of some leading companies have declined in scale, but the pace of strategy has been accelerating.
Typically, since 2022, Taikang has signed strategic cooperation agreements with major banks such as ICBC, CCB, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, Shanghai Pudong Development and CITIC.
Ping An Bank's "rehabilitation care" experience activity of happy home care is also in full swing, and "bancassurance + health + pension" seems to have become the new value of the leading company's bancassurance channel.
On the other hand, Xinhua has also recruited leaders in charge of banking and insurance in many provincial branches, and the experience of "bank branch presidents", "personal finance" and "private banks" has become a key focus. The "long-term effective" recruitment period may also represent Xinhua's strategy to survive in the bancassurance channel, after all, the individual insurance team in the past is no longer what it used to be.
In fact, in addition to the two absolute kings of China Life and Ping'an, other leading companies are obviously more dependent on bancassurance, and the challenges they face are not much smaller than those of small and medium-sized companies. There is also the problem of front-end control, but it has a relatively stronger brand appeal, more adequate solvency, and larger scale, which is a little more "resistant" than small and medium-sized companies.
The "integration of newspapers and banks" and the liberalization of "1 to 3" may also be an opportunity for these leading companies to play bancassurance companies, after all, many small and medium-sized companies competing on the same stage have fallen down.
In addition, although some "risk companies" have always occupied the C position in the bancassurance market, under the storm of "breaking the rigid exchange" of the insurance undercurrent, some more cautious banks are also worried about the "accident" of the insurance company, so they also prefer the products of the head company.
"Evergrande has had such a big deal, and it has actually had a great impact on some of the banking channels in our province, and doing work for customers has almost become a daily homework for us," said a bank lobby manager.
4 The daily life of grassroots bancassurance personnel: the strategy is far away, and the task is very close
For more grassroots personnel of bancassurance, this strategy and that strategy are far away from themselves and have little significance. As the price of strategy, how miserable I am by myself, you can feel it by flipping through the complaints in the WeChat group:
"It's not going to work this year, so the point rate can only cover our basic salary, and we can rely on this money to 'survive'..."
"Don't talk about other big truths, then the rate, we can't care about the products of our own insurance company... It's a task, but who cares, I'm tired..."
"What is the strategy, do you mean 'layoffs'? That's right, we've cut our internal and external staff in half..."
However, the task is in the body, and the complaint is complaining, and it is the right way to continue to pick up the landline to make a call after spraying in the WeChat group, after all, you have to make dozens of calls a day.
Although third-party personnel are not allowed to use landlines in banks to call users, some grassroots personnel said that they were not afraid.
"Just sneak around when the account manager is out of the office. Monitor? What are you afraid of, put on bank clothes and sit under the surveillance, this is called 'dark under the light'..."
No matter how great the pressure is, some grassroots internal staff have a glimmer of hope for the "1-to-3" liberalization.
But then again, if in the original "1-to-3" mode, you are not selected by the physical outlets, will there be a chance if you let it go?
In addition, the branches of some banks have made it clear that "1 to 4" and "1 to 5" will not be completely liberalized, on the grounds that all liberalization will increase the burden on outlets, and bank wealth managers have no time to learn new products.
However, aren't these bancassurance products all about the same, and if there are more, maybe the burden will not be much more?
As for the training pressure, some in-house staff bluntly said that the courseware is online and offline, and it is also the same to talk to customers......
In this way, it is instinct to live.
This is also the common tone of banking and insurance, which is rare for the entire bancassurance.