In January this year, the General Office issued the "Opinions on the Development of the Silver Economy to Enhance the Well-being of the Elderly", proposing to support financial institutions to develop pension financial business in accordance with laws and regulations, enrich personal pension financial products, strengthen the research and development of pension financial products, and provide pension financial planning, fund management and other services. Industry insiders believe that the development of the silver economy means that the pension industry ushers in greater development space and brings opportunities to the financial services pension industry.
At present, what is the development status of China's pension finance?How can insurance funds be used in the field of pension industry?On related issues, the reporter interviewed industry insiders and experts.
Product supply continues to be optimized.
China is the country with the largest elderly population in the world, up to now, nearly 300 million people over 60 years old, and it is expected that by 2035, China's population over 60 years old will exceed 400 million, accounting for more than 30% of the total population. Experts believe that the development of pension finance is an important part of the response to the impact of population aging. The development of pension finance is directly related to the sense of gain, happiness and security of the elderly group.
As an important institutional design of the "third pillar" of China's pension insurance system, the personal pension system was launched and implemented in 36 places including Beijing and Shanghai in November 2022. The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security recently said that by the end of 2023, more than 50 million people in China have opened personal pension accounts. The personal pension system implemented in 36 cities and regions is currently running smoothly, and the first work has achieved positive results, and the next step will be to promote the full implementation of the personal pension system.
The personal pension implements the personal account system, and the payment is entirely borne by the participant, who independently chooses to purchase financial products such as savings deposits, wealth management products, commercial pension insurance, and public offerings that meet the requirements, and implements complete accumulation, and enjoys preferential tax policies in accordance with the relevant provisions of the state. According to the data disclosed by the national social insurance public service platform, up to now, the number of personal pension products has increased to 741, including 465 savings products, 183 ** products, 70 insurance products, and 23 wealth management products.
China Merchants Bank has built a "personal unified perspective" pension master account integrating "social security account, enterprise annuity, personal pension and other pension funds", and will continue to build a pension financial service system covering "saving pension + spending pension" on this basis. At present, China Merchants Bank has opened more than 5 million personal pension accounts, launched more than 160 personal pension products, and paid more than 7 billion yuan.
The average age of China Merchants Bank's personal pension customers is 36 years old, and more and more young people have established a sense of pension and have begun to promote this ultra-long-term investment for the elderly. The relevant person in charge of China Merchants Bank said that this is a huge test for the bank's account opening, product organization and optimization capabilities, and systematic operation; Only by truly starting from the customer's perspective and establishing and continuously improving service capabilities can we play a role in helping customers prepare for the elderly.
Yin Jiangao, head of the Property Insurance Supervision Department of the State Financial Supervision and Administration of the People's Republic of China, said that since the pilot project in September 2021, about 470,000 investors have subscribed to pension wealth management products, with a scale of more than 100 billion yuan; Since the pilot in November 2022, there have been about 200,000 people in specific pension savings deposits, with a balance of nearly 40 billion yuan.
The above data show that the regulatory authorities have achieved certain results in guiding the pension insurance institutions to focus on the transformation and development of their main business and serve the construction of China's multi-level and multi-pillar pension insurance system. Yin Jiangao said that in the future, the State Administration of Financial Supervision will further optimize the supply of personal pension-related financial products, and study and improve the relevant business supervision rules according to the characteristics of the personal pension system; Summarize experience in a timely manner and continue to promote the pilot of commercial pension finance; Steadily promote the transformation and development of pension insurance companies, guide and promote the company to give full play to its professional advantages, and better participate in and serve the construction of China's multi-level and multi-pillar pension insurance system.
At the same time, although the number of personal pension accounts opened nationwide is increasing, the actual contribution funds are relatively low. How to enhance the attractiveness of pension financial products and continuously improve the enthusiasm of residents to deposit is a difficult problem to be solved. Recently, Chen Min'an, deputy governor of the Liaoning Branch of the People's Bank of China, wrote an article suggesting that relevant institutions can appropriately learn from the personal tax-free savings accounts, housing reverse mortgages, long-term care insurance and other pension products implemented in the United States, Japan, Germany and other countries, continuously innovate and launch China's pension financial products, promote the development of life cycle ** products, grasp the needs of the elderly, extend the connotation of financial services for the elderly, and launch comprehensive functional service products such as wealth management, health management, smart services, and life consumption. Build a personalized and customized financial service system to improve the supply efficiency of pension financial products.
Commercial endowment insurance is heating up.
In recent years, the concept and role of exclusive commercial endowment insurance have gradually become well-known to consumers. It is understood that the exclusive commercial endowment insurance is a personal pension insurance product for the purpose of old-age security, and the age of 60 and above. The product design is divided into two stages: the accumulation period and the receipt period, and the receipt period shall not be less than 10 years; It adopts account-based management, and the calculation of account value and fee collection are open and transparent.
In 2021, the exclusive commercial endowment insurance will be piloted in Zhejiang Province (including Ningbo City) and Chongqing Municipality, and 6 life insurance companies including Chinese Life Insurance Co., Ltd. *** Chinese Life Insurance Co., Ltd. *** will participate in the pilot. In 2022, the pilot area and participating entities of exclusive commercial pension insurance will be expanded, and the pilot area will be expanded to the whole country, and the participating entities will also allow pension insurance companies to participate in the pilot on the basis of the original 6 pilot companies. In October 2023, the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration issued the Notice on Matters Concerning the Promotion of the Development of Exclusive Commercial Pension Insurance, clarifying the relevant business requirements and further expanding the scope of institutions operating exclusive commercial pension insurance business.
Over the years, the scale of exclusive commercial pension insurance has grown steadily. According to data from the State Administration of Financial Regulation, up to now, the number of exclusive pension insurance policies is about 740,000, and the accumulated pension reserves exceed 10.6 billion yuan. Among them, more than 80,000 employees in new industries and new forms of business and flexible employment have been insured.
Exclusive commercial endowment insurance is a kind of long-term locking of funds and dedicated to the personal pension channel of insurance products, with the characteristics of simple insurance, flexible payment, stable income, etc., its core purpose is to provide consumers with pension security. Wang Juan, business manager of CITIC Prudential Life Insurance Beijing Branch, said that with the continuous acceleration of the aging process of the population, the demand for pension insurance market has gradually increased, and the exclusive commercial pension insurance as a long-term savings and pension security product has broad market prospects and development potential.
Industry insiders generally believe that the exclusive commercial pension insurance from the pilot to the normalization of business, will enable more life insurance companies to operate exclusive commercial pension insurance, is conducive to increasing the supply of the third pillar of pension insurance, to better meet the diversified needs of consumers.
It is worth noting that recently, the settlement interest rate of exclusive commercial pension insurance in 2023 has been released one after another. Judging from the exclusive commercial endowment insurance products currently on sale, the settlement interest rate of the stable account is 21% to 415% for the Aggressive account, with a settlement rate of 25% to 425%, a decrease from 2022. However, from the perspective of market feedback, the annualized settlement interest rate of exclusive commercial pension insurance is mostly much higher than the minimum guaranteed interest rate, and most consumers also show a more tolerant attitude towards the decline in settlement interest rates.
Settlement rate cuts are an industry trend. In 2023, affected by factors such as the decline in bond interest rates and fluctuations in the equity market, the income of insurance institutions on the investment side will decline, which will then be transmitted to the liability side, and the interest rate level of major life insurance products will be lowered. Wang Juan said that although the settlement interest rate has been reduced, its "guaranteed + floating" income model still has advantages in dealing with the pension problem.
Wang Juan said that the exclusive commercial endowment insurance is widely welcomed by new industries, new forms of employment and flexible employment due to the low threshold of insurance costs for some products, flexible payment, and the fact that the payment can be suspended when the personal economy is tight and the pension insurance account will not be invalidated. In addition, exclusive commercial endowment insurance products usually focus on long-term planning, long-term investment advantages are more obvious, and are more suitable for investors who pursue stable long-term returns.
Insurance capital layout of the pension industry.
Recently, the Shenzhen Supervision Bureau of the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration, together with the Shenzhen Municipal Health Commission and other departments, issued the "Shenzhen Action Plan for Promoting the High-quality Development of the Integration of Medical Care and Elderly Care (2023-2025)", encouraging banking and insurance institutions to use credit and insurance funds to actively connect with high-quality projects of elderly care services and strengthen cooperation with the medical care and health care industry.
Gong Minghua, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and vice president of the Insurance Society of China, said that the insurance fund has a large scale, a long investment cycle and low return requirements, while the pension industry has a stable operation, small cycle fluctuations and stable cash flow, and the two have a natural fit. Insurance institutions investing in the pension industry can combine rigid pension demand with low-frequency insurance demand to form new sales scenarios and promote the development and sales of related insurance products. "Insurance investment can also be connected upwards to medical insurance, long-term care insurance, pension insurance and other products, downward to connect chronic disease management, medical care, pension services and other health and pension industries, lengthen the industrial chain, and form a new pattern of coordinated development of insurance and pension and insurance main business. Gong Minghua said.
It is understood that at present, insurance institutions have formed three models of heavy assets, light assets and light and heavy combination of investment in the pension industry. Under the asset-heavy model, insurance companies integrate the roles of investors, developers and operators, investing in the construction and operation of continuous care retirement communities, providing comprehensive health management, nursing and medical services. This model generally has a large investment amount, a long investment cycle, and implements overall planning, unified allocation of facilities, and forms economies of scale.
Taking Chinese Life as an example, in the investment layout of the pension industry, Chinese Life gives full play to the strength of financial central enterprises, accelerates the completion of investment layout in 20 to 30 central cities, increases the supply of pension beds and services, and has been completed in Tianjin, Suzhou, Sanya and other places, Guoshou Jiayuan, which is a high-quality composite pension community and health care residence base built by Chinese Life integrating medical, health, pension and other resources. In terms of investment layout in the health field, Chinese Life has set up a large health industry with a total scale of 50 billion yuan**, focusing on the big health industry chain, increasing investment layout in medical devices, biopharmaceuticals and other fields, so as to invest in gathering medical resources and promote the construction of a health industry ecosystem.
Under the asset-light model, insurance companies participate in the pension industry by leasing properties, entrusting management and cooperating with mature pension institutions. The combination of light and heavy mode organically combines the above two methods, and the insurance institution builds part of the pension community by itself, and at the same time signs a contract with a third party to cooperate or invests in the equity of the pension institution. According to data from the Insurance Association of China, by the end of 2022, the number of pension community projects of commercial insurance institutions has reached 105.
There are also many difficulties and challenges in the investment and participation of insurance institutions in the pension industry, such as the development of the pension industry is still in the exploratory period, and the profit model is not clear; Lack of professionals in the pension industry; Local support policies have not yet been implemented, and private and public offices are treated differently. To this end, Gong Minghua suggested that insurance institutions should formulate and implement a long-term plan for investment and participation in the pension industry, strengthen the coordination of the product side, the payment side and the service side, and promote the integration of insurance and "medicine, medicine, health, care and maintenance". Insurance institutions should flexibly and diversely determine the scale, channels and methods of investment and participation in the pension industry according to their own actual conditions, and provide differentiated services. Small and medium-sized insurance institutions can establish an alliance of ageing financial services, give full play to their respective geographical advantages, share and exchange resources, provide cross-regional pension services, and achieve win-win cooperation. (Economic ** reporter Wu Yadong).
*:Economy**.