Insurers respond to regulator's call for more online P&C business

The insurance sector is actively responding to the top regulator’s call for the digital transformation of the property and casualty business.

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission has issued a three-year plan to promote the online development of the property and casualty insurance business to industry player, Shanghai Securities News reported. 

According to the plan, by 2022, the online rate of business areas such as car insurance, agricultural insurance, accident insurance, short-term health insurance and home property insurance should reach more than 80 percent.

The guideline also encourages P&C carriers to provide consumers with safe and convenient online full-process insurance services.

In response to the call, ZhongAn Technology, a wholly-owned technology subsidiary of ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance, has been endeavoring to provide digital transformation solutions for insurers, insurance intermediary companies and agents.

In the area of business expansion, with ZhongAn’s help, P&C insurance companies can introduce new protection policies within three days and quickly get themselves linked with more than 1,000 sales channels without replacing their core operational system.

The demand for "contactless" financial services surged during the epidemic prevention and control period.

P&C underwriters are encouraged to explore contactless insurance services by using biotechnology, image recognition, artificial intelligence, big data and other technologies.

ZhongAn Technology's video-based technology will enable car owners to obtain fast and intelligent loss determination and claim settlement services, with an average settlement time of around 11 minutes for payouts under 10,000 yuan (US$1,403).

From January to April, the original premium income of China’s P&C insurance companies came in at 477.6 billion yuan, up 6.06 percent year on year, according to data  released by the watchdog before the “two sessions”.