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By Yin Nan
In early September, China Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the latest market-exiting announcement of professional insurance intermediaries. The announcement indicated that 12 insurance agencies and 3 insurance assessment institutions terminated insurance agency business and quitted the market in August. In fact, this kind of announcement has become a routine of the Insurance Intermediaries Regulatory Department of CIRC and it happens almost every month. People may take the market-exiting of intermediaries as a news topic a few years ago, but now it is already a commonplace. What makes people look at it with new eyes is the fast development of insurance intermediaries in recent years.
Intermediary market takes shape initially
Insurance intermediary is an indispensable entity of insurance market, it includes: insurance brokers, insurance agencies and insurance assessment institutions. The development of insurance intermediary market could in a sense reflect the maturity of a country's insurance market. China's insurance intermediary market, after a dozen years development, has become an integral and important part of insurance industry.
According to the data released by CIRC, in the first half year, insurance companies in China achieved premium revenue amounting to RMB 441.582 billion yuan through intermediary channel, accounting for 78.6 percent of the total premium revenue. At present, there are 2381 professional intermediaries, 151.6 thousand concurrent-business insurance agencies, and 2.2186 million salesmen in China, being 14.8 times, 1.6 times and 2.1 times of the figure in 2002 respectively.After a decade of development, insurance intermediary market has taken shape initially and has formed an orderly-competition market pattern, and the market is notably more capable in serving the development of the economy, the society and insurance industry.
Taking insurance broker as example, lots of companies have joined in some big projects. Infrastructure construction projects, such as South-to-North water diversion, West-East natural gas transmission project, Hangzhou Bay Bridge, Gezhouba Hydropower Station, Qinghai-Tibet Railway, have become important bridges and ties between insurance companies and insurance applicants. Jiang Tai Insurance Broker Co., Ltd., the first comprehensive insurance broker in China, signed an Insurance Brokerage Service Entrusting Agreement with China Meteorological Administration and confirmed the company's role as an insurance broker of Fengyun series meteorological satellites. The sum insured of "FY-2D"was as high as RMB 397 million yuan. So far Jiang Tai has arranged 15 property insurance companies to jointly underwrite the project, and International Space Broker Group was the re-insurance broker of the project. "Without the participation of insurance intermediaries, it is almost impossible to reasonably and optimizedly arrange the insurance of such a big project", said Shen Kaitao, President of Jiang Tai Insurance Broker Co., Ltd.
Obviously, as an important sales channel of insurance products and an important link of insurance industry chain, insurance intermediaries are offering more comprehensive insurance guarantee for the society and promoting the development of social economy together by handing with insurance companies.
Innovation becomes the impetus
In recent years, lots of new operation modes emerged in insurance intermediary market, and innovation becomes an internal impetus. CNinsure Inc. is a typical example. CNinsure Inc. conducts insurance intermediary business through the mode of "Back-up Platform + Individual Innovation", offering platform for small-scaled insurance brokers that are lack of centripetal force and for independent insurance brokers and agencies that are eager to open shops. CNinsure Inc is a full-time insurance entrepreneur incubator. In the first half year, CNinsure Inc. began to enter assessment market and merged three insurance assessment companies: Guangdong Fangzhong Insurance Surveyors & Loss Adjusters Co., Ltd., Khubon Insurance Surveyors & Loss Adjusters Co.,Ltd. in Shenzhen and Teamhead Surveyors Co.,Ltd. in Shanghai. At present, CNinsure Inc. owns 27 agencies, 5 brokers, and 3 assessment companies. It is the biggest insurance intermediary group in China.
Some other intermediaries companies adopt column alliance in market expansion. Jiangsu Huabang Insurance Agency Co. Ltd., established at the beginning of the year, has united with 12 insurance agencies in Nanjing. The alliance doesn't change the legal status and organization structure of the members. Every member could exert their own strength by force of strength integration and centralized procurement; they make full use of the channels and scatter sales of insurance products. This kind of mode is working out well.
As soon as insurance companies are concerned, more and more insurance companies are joining hands with intermediaries by new methods and conducting product sales relying on intermediary's networks. Many insurance companies specially set up their own intermediary department to build and maintain intermediary channel in professional ways. Aviva-COFCO Life Insurance Co., Ltd. took the lead. The company started brokerage and agent business in 2004 when it entered Beijing market, what is to say, the company selected to utilize sales channels of insurance brokers and agencies to enter Beijing life insurance market. This is a unique mode. Now the brokerage and agency business of Aviva-COFCO Life is getting more mature.
It can be seen that because of the continuous innovation of developing mode, intermediary market has obtained a quick development in recent years. Some prefer scaled development and set up insurance intermediary group, some adopt "insurance + professional intermediaries" mode. Regardless of the mode, the insurance products sales and service extension of intermediaries are promoted.
Increasingly reinforce market supervision
On the whole, now China's insurance intermediary market begin to enter sound development track. In September, CIRC started to clarify and check the intermediary market, and on such basis, CIRC will summarize the experiences, improve the laws and regulations, and build a harmonious situation, in which intermediary market, property insurance market and life insurance market could obtain positive interaction, coordinated supervision and development. CIRC will try to pursue a set of powerful, orderly, and effective insurance intermediary supervision mechanism and mode conform to the reality of China's insurance market.
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