Technology will Enable Insurance to Achieve a More Efficient, Compatible, Balanced and Humane Ecosystem in the Future
BEIJING and HONG KONG, Oct. 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 16, ZhongAn Fintech Research Institute and KPMG China jointly released a report InsureTech: Building the Infrastructure of "New Insurance". For the first time, the report puts forward the development concept of "new insurance", that is, InsureTech as software, supervision and market rules as software, continuously empowering insurance institutions, regulators and users, standardizing market operations, and promoting a more efficient, compatible, balanced and humane ecosystem.
As the first Internet-based insurance company in China, ZhongAn has been dedicated to the exploration, application and export of insurance technology in the past five years. Furthermore, ZhongAn has established ZhongAn Fintech Research Institute which focuses on the research, commercialization and application of cutting-edge technologies. KPMG, on the other hand, has been continuing to focus on and facilitate the innovation and development of the fintech industry. This collaboration between the two parties is based on extensive industry research, representing the inaugural study issued by ZhongAn Fintech Research Institute to forecast the future of InsureTech development.
Jeffrey Chen, Chief Executive Officer of ZhongAn Online, said: "We look forward to collaborating with all parties in the insurance industry through the construction of InsureTech, the future infrastructure of insurance. This will help us build out a new insurance ecosystem, sharing the success of China's InsureTech with the world."
According to China Insurance Regulatory Commission's data, the domestic Internet-based insurance has grown rapidly by nearly 20 times in terms of scales in the past five years. Not only has Internet-based insurance created new market demand for the insurance industry, its technologies also become key driver for the development of the entire industry. Conducted as part of the report, a survey targeting hundreds of insurance and technology practitioners showed that 98% of the respondents believe that technology is an important infrastructure or support for the future development of the insurance industry.
Min Wang, Secretary to the Board of Directors of ZhongAn Online, said: "Technology, an important infrastructure of the insurance industry, the more complete the underlying system is, the more fully it can empower the market participants, the insurance institutions, regulators and the public will have sufficient tools and means to promote a virtuous circle of 'new insurance', letting all market participants benefit from it."
The report further illustrates that InsureTech is now seen as the infrastructure for building a new insurance ecosystem. The report highlighted that with the continuous evolution and development of InsureTech, technology will become the integral part as an important infrastructure to empower the New Insurance Ecosystem, through optimizing business processes, improving cost efficiency of insurance products, strengthening service compatibility, improving risk management, reducing regulatory costs and promoting industry transformation and upgrade. To this end, a more efficient, compatible, balanced and humane ecosystem will be resulted.
About ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance Co., Ltd.
ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance Co., Ltd. is an online-only Insuretech company in China. It started operations in October 2013 and has developed ecosystem-oriented insurance products and solutions through scenario-based settings to serve its customers. The Company primarily offers products and solutions in the context of five major ecosystems, namely lifestyle consumption, consumer finance, health, auto and travel. ZA Online was the largest insurer in China as measured by the number of insurance policies sold and policyholders and the insured served since its inception in October 2013 to 31 December 2016. In November 2016, ZA Online set up ZhongAn Technology, a wholly-owned subsidiary which focuses on the research and development of cutting-edge financial technologies to export technological capabilities to the industry. On 28 September 2017, ZA Online became the first Fintech company to be listed on the HKEX. ZA Online established ZhongAn International in Hong Kong in December 2017 to explore international business development, collaboration and investment opportunities in the areas of Fintech and Insuretech in overseas market.
About KPMG China
KPMG China has offices in 19 cities in China with approximately 12,000 partners and employees. KPMG operates its China's business in a unified manner, ensuring efficient and rapid mobilization of all aspects of resources to provide high quality services to its customers. In 1992, KPMG became the first international accounting firm with license to open a joint venture in mainland China. On August 1, 2012, KPMG became one of the "Big Four" accounting firms, the first to change from a Chinese and foreign owned firm to a special general partnership.