8 Insurtech Predictions for China in 2018

This post, which describes recent news coming from insurtech and digital insurance in China, was written for Daily Fintech by Zarc Gin from Insurview from within China. Happy New Year! It has been a great honor for me to share insurtech developments in China since last November. I hope my posts here help you understand what’s happening in China, so you can either learn from the experiences or even develop businesses opportunities in China. Today, I’m going to share the predictions we made about insurtech in China in 2018. They are a combination of opinions, ideas, trend analyses and hopes. 1. More funds, more IPOs We have seen huge amount of funds pouring into digital insurance in China, and top startups are well-funded. Because of the successful IPO of Zhong An, investors are looking for the next big name in digital insurance. Top startups are also aiming for IPOs to catch up with Zhong An. So the fever of digital insurance will enter the next level, with huge funds and IPOs in 2018. My forecast is that Ping An Good Doctor, a Ping An Group subsidiary, will be the first insurtech IPO this year. 2. More digital health insurance Premium income of health insurance has been growing quickly since 2011, with 404.25 billion RMB ($62.32 billion) income in 2016 and a 68% growth rate. Exalted Life was one of the most popular health policies from Zhong An in 2016. Ping An also launched E-home and E-life, which were well-received. The competition of digital health insurance got more intense in 2017 with the launch of Wesure. So, the competition will continue, and health insurance will be even more widely received in 2018. See also: How Is Insurtech Different in Asia?   3. Opportunities for B2B startups Over the past two years, B2C startups were in fashion. But the digitalization of the whole insurance industry is far from accomplished, and the infrastructure of insurance is still in its early stage. Therefore, the potential for B2B startups will be big in 2018. 4. Rise of a new type of broker CIRC has been trying to weaken bancassurance channels in China. This led insurers to seek the support from broker companies, and the insurance intermediary industry is expanding with this opportunity. Life brokers like Mingya and EverPro are growing quickly. Focusing on quality of individual brokers is their key difference from traditional broker companies. Digital broker companies like Tuniu are also growing rapidly with the help of e-commerce resources. We believe brokerage will have a new age in digital insurance, and both the life and property sectors will grow significantly in 2018. 5. New look on auto insurance With regulation on auto insurance tightening, the combined ratios for auto insurers are increasing. To reverse the situation, auto insurers need to grab the digital opportunity and develop policies from the perspective of customers. We believe digital auto insurer will explore the possibilities in the digital age and make a difference to the current auto insurance. 6. Opportunity in data and information Insurers are connected with their customers’ lives, so they will have access to all the data generated, such as health, habits and behaviors. Data can show insurers where the world is going, so there will be a huge opportunity in data collection and analysis. See also: Top 10 Insurtech Trends for 2018   7. Globalization The world is getting smaller thanks to the internet, both for China and for other countries. The interaction between China and the world is getting more and more frequent. Foreign insurtech companies such as Singapore-based CXA Group are exploring Chinese markets, and Chinese insurers like Fosun and CPIC are implementing their plans around the world. 8. Talent liquidity Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu all entered digital insurance in 2017. They will heat up the talent liquidity in this industry. We will see an increasing combination between tech talents and insurance talents in the future. This article first appeared at Daily Fintech.