Pension insurance companies ushered in the first special new regulations!On December 12, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily learned that the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration officially issued the "Interim Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Pension Insurance Companies" (hereinafter referred to as the "Interim Measures") to various regulatory bureaus and a number of pension insurance companies.
On the whole, the "Interim Measures" put forward a series of requirements for the business scope, corporate governance, and controlling shareholders of pension insurance companies, and clarified the definition of pension insurance companies, positioning them as the development of "the main business of pension insurance".
Standardize the scope of business.
Since 2004, China has set up a number of pension insurance companies represented by Ping An Pension and Taiping Pension, and up to now, there are 10 professional pension insurance companies that have been opened in China. Now, pension insurance companies have ushered in the first special new regulations.
The Interim Measures emphasize that pension insurance companies should take the path of professional development, actively participate in the construction of a multi-level and multi-pillar pension insurance system, focus on the main business of pension, innovate pension financial products and services, and meet the diversified pension needs of the people.
In terms of business thresholds, according to the Interim Measures, pension insurance companies can operate annuity insurance, life insurance, long-term health insurance, and accident insurance with pension attributesBusiness Pensions;Pension management;The use of insurance funds is a business of these four businesses. If the pension insurance company wants to operate the first two items of the aforementioned business, its registered capital shall not be less than 1 billion yuan. In order to operate the first three at the same time, its registered capital shall not be less than 3 billion yuan. If the business scope of the pension insurance company exceeds the provisions, it shall complete the change of business scope within three years from the date of issuance of the Interim Measures.
The Interim Measures put forward certain requirements for shareholders of pension insurance companies, and non-financial institutions are not allowed to become controlling shareholders of pension insurance companies.
According to a previous report by a reporter from Beijing Business Daily, at the beginning of this year, the former China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the "Interim Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Pension Insurance Companies (Draft for Comments)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft"). Compared with the previous "Draft Opinions", the "Interim Measures" officially implemented deleted "the total weight of pension insurance, commercial pension, pension management and other businesses in the performance appraisal shall not be less than 70%";It also deleted the "accident insurance, medical insurance, illness insurance and other insurance businesses operated by pension insurance companies that do not have obvious pension attributes, and their total premium scale shall not exceed 40% of the total premium scale of insurance business".
In this regard, Song Zhanjun, deputy secretary-general of the China Insurance Research Institute of Beijing Technology and Business University, said that the deletion of the provisions of the "Draft Opinions" on accident insurance and medical insurance may be considered that the protection needs of the elderly for old-age, health and accidental injuries exist at the same time, and the "Measures for the Administration of Health Insurance" and other regulations also allow pension insurance companies to operate health insurance business. From the perspective of meeting the overall needs of elderly medical care and focusing on the main business of elderly care, allowing pension insurance companies to operate long-term health insurance and accident insurance can better realize the integrated protection of personal risks for the elderly.
Strengthen the requirements of the main business.
According to a reporter from Beijing Business Daily, the previous business of the pension insurance company included enterprise annuity, occupational annuity, pension security and other entrusted management assets. Some pension insurance companies deviate from the main business, and there are many businesses with inobvious pension characteristics, which affects the development of pension insurance business to a certain extent.
In December 2021, the former China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) issued the Notice on Regulating and Promoting the Development of Pension Insurance Institutions, restricting the insurance asset management business and wealth management business of pension insurance companies, and promoting pension insurance companies to focus on the main business of pension insurance.
The "Interim Measures" issued this time once again emphasize that pension insurance companies should mainly engage in pension-related business, including pension insurance, commercial pension, pension management, etc., and shall not be entrusted with the management of insurance funds and insurance asset management products. In addition, in terms of corporate governance, the "Interim Measures" proposes that pension insurance companies should establish and improve a long-term performance appraisal mechanism oriented by focusing on the main business of pension. The investment management assessment period of commercial endowment insurance and pension management shall not be less than three years.
Yang Zeyun, a teacher of the Department of Finance of the School of Business of Beijing Union University, said that on the one hand, China's aging population is deepening, and the demand for pension financial services is more urgent. As a pension insurance company specializing in providing pension financial services, it needs to focus on the main business of pension and force it to deepen and cultivate in the field of pension finance, innovate pension insurance products and services, and meet the needs of pension financial services as much as possible. On the other hand, the original issuance of licenses for professional pension insurance companies was to hope that these pension insurance companies would specialize in pension insurance, commercial pension and other pension insurance business, rather than overlapping with the existing life insurance company business.
In addition, the "Interim Measures" put forward requirements for the corporate governance and operating rules of pension insurance companies: the board of directors of pension insurance companies should adhere to the company's development positioning, formulate realistic development goals, business strategies and related safeguard measures according to the long-term and stable characteristics of commercial pension insurance and pension management, and promote the establishment of appropriate internal management systems.
Talking about the significance of the implementation of the "Interim Measures", Yang Zeyun said that the initial establishment of a professional pension insurance company is mainly based on enterprise annuity business. However, in actual operation, the profit of the enterprise annuity business is limited, which not only fails to reflect the characteristics of professional pension insurance companies, but even affects the industry image of pension insurance companies. Raising the business threshold is not only conducive to the sustainable development of the company itself, but also conducive to establishing a good industry image. Song Zhanjun said that the original intention of the establishment of various professional insurance companies is to explore the development of a certain type of professional insurance business, and the "Interim Measures", including the "Notice on Regulating and Promoting the Development of Pension Insurance Institutions", require pension insurance companies to focus on the main business, is to truly realize the professional development of pension insurance.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Li Xiumei.