The Theme last week was Tech giants are serious about insurance
The Theme this week is Insurtech action from China. The Chinese market is a fast growing one for InsurTech. It can be enlightening to see, compare and learn from the Chinese market. We look at 3 news stories illustrating this theme. These stories illustrate actions made by China, from China and for China.
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For this week we bring you three stories illustrating the theme of Insurtech from China.
Story 1: Insurtech is the future infrastructure of insurance, says ZhongAn CEO
Extract, read more on Reinsurance News:
“A joint report by the recently-launched Fintech Research Institute of China’s largest online-only insurer ZhongAn and the financial advisory firm KPMG claims insurtech will enable a more efficient, compatible, balanced and humane insurance ecosystem.”
This is more like a perspective by China (Zhong An), but it is a perspective based on actions in motion. Zhong An has been building its multi-industry ecosystems including auto service, consumption, financing etc. since its founding. Ecosystem is all about partnerships and collaborations, and InsurTech is the core of those partnerships.
Story 2: China’s Attention to Israel Smart Vehicle Market Creates Insurtech Opportunities
Extract, read more on The Times of Israel:
“The Chinese auto industry is yearning for smart-car technologies. In December 2017, the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s chief economic planning agency, revealed a three-year plan highlighting the development of the smart cars industry as a national priority. Without a doubt, by 2020 one in every two new cars sold in China, the world’s leading car market, will be an intelligent one.
Despite popular hype pertaining to autonomous cars, most people don’t understand how highly dependent these cars are on a sense of place. This means that if the map the autonomous car is relying on to navigate is wrong, then the autonomous vehicle is bound to make mistakes as well. French mega insurer AXA for example, is one of the many car insurers tackling this issue.”
The causality chain is a little long here. In short, the promotion on electric cars in China can create new business opportunities for auto insurance and InsurTech can be a big part of it. This is actions from China.
Story 3: Munich Re strikes Insurtech partnership with Plug and Play in China
Extract, read more on The Intelligent Insurer:
“Munich Re has partnered with Plug and Play, a Silicon Valley-based accelerator and corporate innovation platform, to collaborate with emerging Insurtech startups in China.”
Actions for China. Munich Re has been cultivating in Chinese market for a long time. Plug and Play just started its InsurTech program in China this year. They are tapping into Chinese InsurTech from all aspects from accelerating startups, sharing innovation with incumbents etc.
As a market, China has great potential both in individual business and corporate business. As an innovation base, Chinese InsurTech is equipped with mobile Internet features. Either way, it is an attractive destination for global insurance industry.
Zarc Gin is an analyst for Warp Speed Fintech, a Fintech, especially InsurTech-focused Venture Capital based in China.
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