HONG KONG and SHANGHAI, April 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. (hereafter "Ping An", the "Company" or the "Group", HKEx:2318; SSE:601318) announced that Ping An has become a signatory of the Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI), a global sustainability framework of United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). Ping An is the first company in Mainland China to participate.
The PSI was launched in 2012 and serves as a global practice framework for the insurance industry to address environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities. PSI is part of the insurance industry criteria of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes and FTSE4Good Index.
As of 31 December 2019, Ping An's sustainable insurance insured amount reached RMB121.21 trillion, with 1,053 sustainable insurance products and services and 785 million person-times of sustainable insurance valid coverage, leading sustainable development in China's insurance industry.
Eric Usher, Head of UNEP FI said, "We are glad to see leading insurers such as Ping An support and implement PSI. While we strive to realize a Decade of Action for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030, we are looking forward to working with Ping An and other PSI signatories in the world to build communities and economies that are highly adaptable, inclusive and sustainable."
Richard Sheng, Secretary of the Board and Brand Director of Ping An said, "Insurance companies can provide risk mitigation measures that have immense social value. As one of the world's largest integrated financial services and insurance companies, Ping An will actively implement PSI and continuously enhance our sustainable insurance system, leading Ping An's insurance products on the journey towards sustainable development."
PSI addresses ESG risks and opportunities through a strategic approach where all activities in the insurance value chain will be conducted in a responsible and forward-looking manner, including interactions with stakeholders. Sustainable insurance aims to reduce risk, develop innovative solutions, improve business performance and contribute to the sustainable development of the environment, society and the economy.
To date, more than 140 institutions have become PSI signatories, including insurers that represent more than 25% of total premiums globally, and USD14 trillion in assets under management.
Ping An is committed to integrating ESG concepts into its insurance business, to continue refining its Sustainable Insurance Policy and improving the insurance value chain. By integrating ESG factors into decision-making for insurance products, Ping An has built a sustainable insurance product system that effectively addresses customer needs and mitigates environmental and social risks for a green environment, a harmonious society and sustainable economic development.
To date, Ping An Property & Casualty has launched 518 sustainable insurance products in eight categories. The categories include environmental and ecological related products, such as environmental liability insurance, catastrophe insurance, and wildlife protection insurance; social insurance products, such as insurance for large engineering projects, food safety insurance and medical accident insurance; and inclusive insurance products for small and micro-businesses, farmers and other disadvantaged groups. Ping An Life, Ping An Health and Ping An Annuity track Chinese population health trend changes and insurance market demand changes resulting from improved insurance awareness, promote the development of multiple protection products, and offer a total of 535 sustainable insurance products within four major categories -- medical insurance, critical illness insurance, annuity insurance and medical care.
With its expertise in artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and cloud computing technology, Ping An has launched a number of technological innovations to reduce ESG business risks and improve the quality and the efficiency of its service. Based on Ping An Property & Casualty's Digital Risk System (DRS), Ping An's intelligent risk management system provides rapid screening and accurate early warning for insured customers for accurate disaster prevention, reduction and relief services, and reducing the losses resulting from climate disasters and other ESG environmental risks. Ping An Life applies face recognition, decision tree based on disease knowledge graph, remote video conferencing, hospital clusters, mathematical models and other technologies to facilitate online interactions between underwriters and customers. Rapid online data acquisition allows for more accurate risk identification and risk feedback is used for empirical analysis and product development.
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About Ping An Group
Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. ("Ping An") is a world-leading technology-powered retail financial services group. With over 204 million retail customers and 534 million Internet users, Ping An is one of the largest financial services companies in the world.
Ping An has two over-arching strategies, "pan financial assets" and "pan health care", which focus on the provision of financial and healthcare services through our integrated financial services platform and our five ecosystems of financial services, health care, auto services, real estate services and smart city services. Our "finance + technology" and "finance + ecosystem" strategies aim to provide customers and internet users with innovative and simple products and services using technology. As China's first joint stock insurance company, Ping An Group is committed to upholding the highest standards of corporate reporting and corporate governance. The Company is listed on the stock exchanges in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
In 2019, Ping An ranked 7th in the Forbes Global 2000 list and 29th on the Fortune Global 500 list. Ping An also ranked 40th in the 2019 WPP Millward Brown BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands list. For more information, please visit www.pingan.cn.
