This newspaper (chinatimesnet.CN) reporter Feng Yingzi reports from Beijing.
The income is written in black and white in the contract, and it is absolutely guaranteed. On December 5, a relevant staff member of a large state-owned bank said when introducing the insurance products to a reporter from the China Times.
The above-mentioned staff said that the official deduction of the product began in January, and it is now in the pre-insurance stage. The product is principal-protected, and the minimum return can also be locked14%-1.5%。But at the same time, he also reminded: "Each sub-branch has a limited amount of single payment products, and if you want to insure, you need to lock in the quota in advance." ”
With less than a month to go until 2024, the "good start" activities have been launched one after another. After visiting a number of banks, the reporter of the "China Times" found that unlike previous years, such as raising deposit interest rates and giving gifts to attract depositors, this year's large state-owned banks and joint-stock banks will focus more on the sales of insurance and wealth management.
From the perspective of medium income, this year's good start is still the main promotion of insurance products. On December 4, a staff member of a joint-stock bank told the "China Times" reporter that as for deposits, it mainly promotes low-cost deposits, that is, one-year fixed deposit products.
Insurance is still a "good start" hot product
This year, the attitude of bank relationship managers towards insurance sales has experienced three emotional ups and downs: from "crazy" at the beginning of the year, to "calm" in the second half of the year, and then to "enthusiasm rebound" at the end of the year.
In late August this year, in order to put an end to the phenomenon of insurance companies exchanging high handling fees for premiums, the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration issued a notice to a number of life insurance companies to regulate the handling fees of bancassurance business.
Among them, insurance companies are required to refine and improve the fee structure, require the upper limit of commissions to be listed, and implement the "integration of reporting and banking" of commission expenses, and resolutely put an end to the "small account" of bancassurance.
Since then, a number of insurance companies have received requests from the regulatory authorities that insurance companies should sign cooperation agreements with banks based on the re-reported handling fees after changing the product handling fees.
A customer manager of a Beijing branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China told the China Times that some insurance products had been discontinued in October, and now the products have been re-entered.
The commission cut will definitely discourage sales, but at present, the wealth management business still has to rely on insurance, and this year is even more difficult. A staff member of China Merchants Bank told the "China Times" reporter that the proportion of insurance in the middle income is still the highest.
At the same time, the reporter of this newspaper learned from the staff of a large state-owned bank that since the official opening of pre-sale on December 1, many regional branch outlets will advance their working hours to 6:30 o'clock, double record for customers in advance, and wait until 8 o'clock to directly buy products in the system.
The staff of a Henan branch of the major bank said that the amount of single payment insurance is tight, and the situation of each branch is different, and the customers of its branch have a strong willingness to buy single payment insurance.
Deposit interest rates have fallen, and customers' acceptance of insurance has gradually increased. The staff of the above-mentioned state-owned bank said.
At present, "guaranteed principal and interest" and "locked interest rate" have become the main selling points of insurance products sold by banks. During the visit of the reporter of the "China Times", a number of financial managers mentioned "guaranteed principal and interest" and introduced the compound interest calculation method of the product.
A customer manager of a Shanghai branch of a joint-stock bank told the China Times: "Because of compliance requirements, we can't say interest rates to customers now, only cash value, but in essence, it is principal-guaranteed, and there will be a certain guaranteed interest rate." ”
At the same time, she said that the opening period has been a key sales period, which may account for two-thirds of the year's sales, and preparations began in November and ended on March 31 of the following year.
Liu Xinqi, a non-banking analyst at Guotai Junan, said in the research report that with the deposit interest rate falling below 3%, residents continue to have a strong demand for insurance savings products with income certainty, and the change in the scheduled interest rate of the product will not change the scarcity characteristic of insurance income certainty, and savings insurance will continue to promote the growth of new business value of life insurance.
Changes in the bank distribution business
Generally speaking, in the middle income system of banks, the middle income of proprietary wealth management and structured deposits is the lowest;**Consignment sales**, consignment wealth management, consignment insurance are relatively considerable, of which the contribution of insurance is in the forefront of all kinds of consignment products.
Especially in the past two years, the consignment sales have declined year-on-year due to the fluctuation of the capital market, but the supporting role of insurance income is obvious.
This year's ** sales are very unsatisfactory. A number of bank wealth managers in Beijing made similar statements to the China Times, in contrast, "insurance has always been the focus of sales." ”
For example, in the past two years, the proportion of China Merchants Bank's ** insurance income in wealth management fee and commission income has been increasing, from 1943% increased to 411%, nearly half of the country;Ping An Bank's first quarter report for 2023 shows that its ** insurance income is 131.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 838%。
At the same time, it can be seen from the annual report that the growth of PSBC's ** business in 2022 is very bright, achieving a year-on-year increase of 3464% growth, revenue 1679.9 billion yuan.
The Postal Savings Bank said that it accelerated the transformation and upgrading of wealth management, improved the ability of professional and differentiated customer asset allocation, and achieved rapid growth in business income such as insurance. The proportion of regular payment is also further increasing, and the data shows that the premium for long-term payment of new policies is 7627 billion yuan, accounting for 28 percent of the new single premium50%, an increase of 8 year-on-year66 percentage points.
In addition, in the first half of this year, a number of urban and rural commercial banks with a low business base of net fees and commissions increased significantly, many of which mentioned the positive impact of the growth of insurance business, to a certain extent offset the decline in wealth management and consignment business.
For example, in the first half of 2023, Zhangjiagang Bank achieved a business fee income increase of more than 40%, due to the increase in wealth management and insurance fee income.
Previously, Du Yang, a researcher at the Bank of China Research Institute, told the China Times that the insurance business is also an important channel for banks to carry out comprehensive financial services and consolidate their customer base. In the medium and long term, the rate reduction will promote the transition of the insurance agency business from first-class competition to quality competition, which is conducive to the long-term sustainable development of the business.
At the same time, in terms of sales, the banking channel has always been the absolute main force of sales, but in the past two years, the proportion of banking channels has shown a downward trend, and some banks with absolute advantages in the number of consignment sales have also performed flat in the first half of this year.
Since the beginning of this year, a number of banks have issued announcements to carry out preferential activities for subscription and regular investment handling fee rates for consignment sales, and the preferential strength is generally one discount.
Taking a shareholding act as an example, on October 9, the bank announced that in order to better serve the consignment of public investment customers, it decided to give preferential treatment to some **investment** transaction rates after consultation with relevant ** managers. From October 9th to December 31st, investors can subscribe and invest in "Dongfanghong Medical Upgrade", "Dacheng Consumption Theme", "Huaxia Antai Hedging Strategy 3-month Fixed Opening" and "Invesco Great Wall Quantitative Hedging 3-Month"** products through bank counters, online banking and mobile banking channels, and enjoy a 1% discount on front-end subscription and regular investment rates.
From the perspective of the bank's own development, the current bank needs to expand and diversify its revenue to meet the challenges brought about by the low interest margin environment. Du Yang told the "China Times" reporter.
On the whole, the industry believes that residents' desire to maintain and increase their wealth will always exist, and the demand for wealth management, insurance, ** and other products will not change.
The simple desire of residents to preserve and increase their wealth has always existed and should be fully satisfied and respected. On October 17 this year, at the "2023 Banker Financial Innovation Forum", Wang Hongdong, general manager of the wealth management department of China CITIC Bank, said that the demand for stable income through bank wealth management products, risk protection through insurance products, and excess returns through public offerings will not only not change, but will further grow. ”
Du Yang told the "China Times" reporter that the consignment business is a low-risk and low-cost intermediate business, which is an important starting point for banks to achieve lightweight transformation, and an important means to meet the diversified and personalized financial needs of customers, which will help realize the sustainable development of bank operations.
No matter what kind of product, in Du Yang's view, banks should also improve the internal management system of the consignment business and strengthen the duty of diligence and due diligence. Banks should conduct due diligence on the credit status, operation and management capabilities, market investment capabilities, and risk disposal capabilities of the issuers of consignment products. At the same time, it is also necessary to strengthen the management of the appropriateness of product consignment sales and protect the rights and interests of investors. Banks should not promise investors any protection of their rights and interests, but should strengthen investor guidance in the sales process, recommend appropriate consignment products according to the risk level of customers, and inform investors of the corresponding risks, so as to cultivate their good investment philosophy.
Editor-in-charge: Meng Junlian Editor-in-chief: Zhang Zhiwei.