In the past two days, "Insurance Enterprise Senior Participation" has paid attention to a shocking industry data - the total number of employees in the insurance industry has dropped by more than 130,000 in the past four consecutive years.
Taking individual institutions as an example, two days ago, some netizens broke the news that Ping An's subsidiary (Shanghai) laid off about 40% of its employees, the second layoff after the layoffs in July. Whether it's technology, products, or sales, no one is immune.
Previously, industry data showed that in the first three quarters of this year, 76 life insurance companies achieved a total net profit of 122.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 2.8 billion yuanOf those, 51 life insurers were loss-making, and only 25 were profitable. All indications show that with the intensification of competition inside and outside the industry, and in the case of continuous pressure on the investment side and the net profit loss of most insurance companies, downsizing may be one of the most direct measures to reduce costs and increase efficiency.
At the same time, in the second half of this year, the insurance industry ushered in the predetermined interest rate of compound interest products from 35% down to 30%, omni-channel "integration of newspapers and banks" and other regulatory policies, which has a great impact on the entire industry.
The number of employees has declined for four consecutive years
A decrease of more than 130,000 in four years
Since the beginning of the year, a number of foreign insurance companies have announced layoffs, and nearly 8,000 people have made public layoff data. Among them, there are many health insurance giants such as Centene, UnitedHealth, and CVS Health, as well as Geico, a car insurance company owned by Hathaway in Berkshi, which has performed brilliantly in the first half of the year. In addition, even the insurance asset management giant AXA Asset Management has also reported layoffs.
What is the situation of domestic insurance companies?Over the past four years, China's insurance industry has undergone significant personnel restructuring.
According to statistics, since the beginning of 2019, the number of employees in the insurance industry has declined for four consecutive years, and the trend has not weakened. According to the data, the number of employees in the insurance industry at the end of 2022 was only 1.11 million, a decrease of more than 130,000 from the peak of 1.24 million in 2018.
The data of listed insurance companies is even more eye-catching. As industry leaders, these companies occupy a large market share in the industry, and the changes in the number of employees are particularly noteworthy.
In 2022, 7 of the 10 listed insurance companies will publish data on the number of employees, and only Zhong'an** personnel are growing, and the other 6 companies of PICC, Ping An, CPIC, China Life, and Xinhua are all downsizing.
Among them, Ping An of China has the largest attrition, with 11,759 people;This was followed by the Chinese People's Insurance Company, which lost more than 6,000 people. From the perspective of personnel decline, Xinhua Insurance fell by more than 5%, and Chinese Insurance and Ping An of China decreased by more than 3%.
The number of employees in Zhongan** increased from 3,791 in 2021 to 3,969, making it the only company among the above seven listed insurance companies with positive employee growth.
Behind the "plummet":
Profit is damaged, reduce costs and increase efficiency
The reason behind the "sharp decline" in the number of employees in the insurance industry is mainly due to the impact of cost reduction and efficiency increase.
In recent years, the investment side of insurance companies has been relatively under pressure, and the net profit of many companies has turned from profit to loss. Not long ago, the regulator announced that the financial return rate of the insurance industry in the first three quarters of 2023 was only 292%, compared to an annualized financial return of 5 over the past 10 years28%。In terms of net profit, in the first three quarters of this year, 76 life insurance companies achieved a total net profit of 122.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 2.8 billion yuanOf those, 51 life insurers were loss-making, and only 25 were profitable.
As profit margins are compressed, insurers must reduce costs in order to improve efficiency.
At present, the life insurance industry is still in the process of transformation, and most insurance companies are focusing on increasing the number of core teams, and the strategy of "optimal growth" has become the consensus of enterprises. It is reported that from 2020 to the present, the insurance industry has revoked more than 5,500 institutions in three years.
On November 19, the Insurance Association of China researched and drafted the "Standards for the Qualification Levels of Individual Insurers' Sales Ability (Life Insurance) (Discussion Draft)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Standards" (Discussion Draft)), which proposes to set up four levels for insurers.
Chinese Life previously said at the results conference that the company does not want to pursue a simple increase in the number of sales forces, but to pursue a balance between quantity and quality, and with the continuous improvement of the quality and cultivation benefits of the increase in staff, it is expected to further raise the standard of increase in staff next year.
On the other hand, under the cost reduction and efficiency increase of insurance companies, the income of employees may decrease. In the second half of this year, the interest rate for compound interest products will be lowered to 30%, under the influence of "newspaper and bank integration", many front-line marketers even bluntly said that "income is halved".
2023 China's insurance intermediary market ecology *** hereinafter referred to as: "* shows that the middle and low-income people in the insurance industry are still the majority: insurance marketers with a monthly income of less than 10,000 yuan account for 6153%, down 13 percent from five years ago17 percentage points;The proportion of marketers with a monthly income of more than 10,000 has increased from 25 five years ago3% to 385%。
On the surface, the number of high-income people has increased, and the number of middle- and low-income people has decreased, but this is actually a simple structural change caused by the loss, and the overall number of people with a monthly income of more than 10,000 has not achieved large-scale growth.
** People "cliff-like" decline,
Premium income continued to be sluggish in the second half of the year
With the number of employees in the entire industry has been greatly reduced, the rate of insurance loss has been accelerating in recent years.
After the number of ** people exceeded 9 million in 2019, it has been declining significantly year by year. Recently, according to the "Insurance Market Observation" compiled by the China Insurance Association, the number of individual insurance marketers in life insurance companies in the first three quarters of this year was 291030,000, a year-on-year decrease of 1955%, a decrease of 9 compared with the same period last year56 percentage points. In other words, in less than four years, the size of the ** population has dropped by 2 3, with a loss of 6.21 million people.
Judging from the performance of leading insurance companies, the number of ** people in the individual insurance channels of most companies has declined to varying degrees in the past three years. Among them, in 2022, the number of people in Xinhua Insurance's personal insurance channel** fell by 49% year-on-year, PICC Life Insurance fell by 48%, Ping An Life and Health Insurance of China fell by 26%, Chinese Life Insurance fell by 19%, and Taiping Life Insurance increased slightly by 2%.
It is worth mentioningWith the gradual advancement of the "integration of newspapers and banks" in the banking and insurance channels, the relevant departments and bureaus of the State Administration of the Financial Regulatory Commission are also stepping up the "integration of newspapers and banks" in the personal channel and the brokerage channel. Some people in the industry said that after the full "integration of reporting and banking", "the number of personnel in the industry's individual insurance team is expected to drop to about 80-900,000 people." ”
In this context, the premium income of major insurance companies in the second half of the year was also relatively sluggish.
In the first half of this year, thanks to 3The suspension of 5% of products is expected to stimulate early consumption, and the original insurance premium income of insurance companies in the first three quarters is 43 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11%. However, since August the industry has entered 3In the era of 0% pricing and regulatory requirements for the bancassurance channel to "integrate reporting and banking", the growth rate of premiums continued to decline.
According to the data, from January to November 2023, the five listed insurance companies achieved a total premium income of 25,2467.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 533%, a slight decrease in the increase, continuing the downward trend in the second half of the year. From January to July, January to August, January to September, and January to October this year, the year-on-year growth rate of premium income of the five insurance companies was respectively. 7%。
In terms of life insurance business, the overall pattern of "two rises and three declines" was presented, with the year-on-year increase in premiums of Ping An Life, PICC Life Insurance, Chinese Life, Xinhua Insurance and Taibao Life Insurance in November. 8%、-1.2%、-12.2%、-19%。
*: High participation of insurance companies.