- GWP surpassed RMB20 billion for the first time, up 21.9% yoy
- Achieved underwriting profit for the first time, profit attributable to owners of the parent surged by 110.3% yoy
- Technology export revenue increased by 42% yoy, powering digitalization across global insurance industry
HONG KONG, Mar 25, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance Co. Ltd. ("ZhongAn Online" or "ZhongAn" or the "Company", HKEx: 6060) released its audited annual report for the year ended December 31, 2021 ("the reporting period"). The Company leveraged its strengths in insurance technology and rich resources connected through its ecosystems to further promote insurance inclusion. The Company provided insurance services for more than 500 million users with a caring hand, the number of customers receiving claim payment reached 129 million in 2021.
Adhering to the strategy of "sustainable growth with quality" and technology-driven cost reduction and efficiency improvement, the Company printed solid numbers in 2021. Gross written premium (GWP) reached RMB20.37 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 21.9%. Combined ratio improved to 99.6%, marked the first underwriting profitable fiscal year in its history. Net profit attributable to owners of the parent reached RMB1.16 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 110.3%, on the back of increased operational efficiency and robust growth of investment income.
Under the dual-engine growth strategy of "Insurance + Technology", ZhongAn exported its insurance technology capability and advanced Insuretech know-how to insurers and brokers, to fuel the digitalization in the insurance industry worldwide. During the reporting period, ZhongAn's technology export revenue reached RMB520 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 42%, and served 109 customers in the insurance industry.
Insurance segment - health ecosystem and digital lifestyle ecosystem remain top contributors with favorable channel mix shift
The health ecosystem recorded RMB7.69 billion in GWP, representing a year-on-year increase of 16%. The Company provided health protection to approximately 25.86 million insured customers in 2021, the number of paying users of individual health insurance reached 18 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 30%.
To achieve such performance, ZhongAn upheld to its philosophy of health inclusion. ZhongAn upgraded its flagship product, Personal Clinic Policy series, incorporating over 30 special rare disease drugs for the youth and launched exclusive medical protection plans for different customer groups such as chronic patients, women and the elderly. The latest version of Personal Clinic Policy also came with more value-added services including cancer screening, Internet hospital, traditional Chinese Medicine and so on.
The Company is committed to provide one-stop "insurance coverage + medical services" experience for users by expanding products and services from required medical scenarios such as in-patient and critical illness, to cover the daily needs of outpatient and emergency, critical illness follow-up treatment, chronic disease treatment, rehabilitation management, optional surgery and other scenarios.
The digital lifestyle ecosystem recorded GWP of RMB7.29 billion in 2021, representing a year-on-year increase of 16%. As new consumption scenarios evolved, ZhongAn actively explore and launch innovative products by leveraging its resources of over 300 strategic ecosystem partners and its cutting-edge technology to solve customers' pain-points in their daily digital life.
Riding the wave of e-commerce 2.0, ZhongAn launched a new version of shipping return policy customized for livestreaming e-commerce platforms such as TikTok and Kuai, and the premium contributed by livestreaming e-commerce channels accounted for more than 20% of the overall shipping return policy in 2021.
Meanwhile, the innovative products featured by pet insurance and phone screen cracking insurance also saw strong growth in 2021. Relying on the layout of pet O2O ecosystem, the annualized premium of pet insurance has exceeded RMB100 million, representing a year-on-year increase of over 250% and its market share was among the top in mainland China. Powered by its optical character recognition, the Company's phone screen cracking insurance grew by over 65% and remained the top-tier insurers for such product.
Among total GWP from digital lifestyle ecosystem, the premium income from innovative business represented by pet insurance, phone screen cracking insurance and Personal Accident Policy accounted for 19% in 2021, representing a year-on-year increase of 29%.
Moreover, in 2021 ZhongAn continued to build its brand and proprietary channels. In 2021, the premium from proprietary channels amounted to RMB3.6 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 66.4%. The Company was pleasant to see such favorable channel mix shift, with proprietary channel contributing over 18% of GWP in 2021. The per capita premium contribution of proprietary channels reached RMB506, representing a year-on-year increase of 20% thanks to robust renewal rate and cross-selling efforts in proprietary channels.
Technology segment - facilitating the digital transformation of the global insurance industry
As a leading insurance technology company, ZhongAn continued to explore cutting-edge technology fields such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, big data and life sciences technology, and utilized technology to reshape the entire insurance value chain. Last year, the Company's R&D investment reached RMB1.13 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 24.5%, accounting for 5.5% of the total GWP. There were 1,836 engineers and technicians, accounting for 48% of all employees.
ZhongAn promoted refined operation with Insurtech, enhancing user experience constantly. The cloud-based distributed core system "Wujieshan" helped ZhongAn to issue 7.7 billion insurance policies in 2021, and the number of customers receiving claim payment for the year reached 129 million. Enabled by its technology, the online claim settlement rate exceeds 95%.
At the same time, ZhongAn also helped insurers worldwide with their digital transformation by exporting modular Insuretech products. In 2021, the technology export revenue reached RMB520 million , representing a year-on-year increase of 42%, with the proportion of recurring revenue reaching 48%. ZhongAn served 109 customers in the insurance industry last year, a year-on-year increase of 34 new accounts.
In terms of overseas development, ZhongAn Technology has further expanded its business territory to Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia to Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines and Europe, by working with insurance companies like AIA, Muang Thai Life, and PFI Mega Life.
ZA Bank, a pioneering advocate of virtual banking in Hong Kong with a one-stop digital financial service platform also made pleasant progress in 2021. Within two years, the number of customers exceeded 500,000, the deposit balance as of Dec 2021 reached HK$7 billion, and the loan balance quadrupled year-on-year to HK$2.5 billion.
In the future, ZhongAn will continue to focus on the needs of users, leverage technological strength to drive innovation, build and improve the ZhongAn brand in the eyes of users, constantly practice insurance inclusion and create long-term value.
About ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance Co Ltd (Stock Code:6060.HK)
ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance Co., Ltd. is a leading online-only InsureTech company in China. Founded in October 2013, the Company adopts an ecosystem-oriented approach and focuses on customers' lives on the Internet, meeting customers' diversified protection needs and creating value for them through ecosystem partners and its proprietary platform. ZhongAn Online seamlessly integrates technology across its insurance business, and now exports its technology to help other companies accelerate their growth. On 28 September 2017, ZhongAn Online became the first Fintech company listed on the HKEx (Ticker: 6060) and since 2018, the Company started expanding its Fintech and InsureTech solutions to various international markets.
For further information, please contact:
ZhongAn Online IR Team
Email: ir@zhongan.com
Source: ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance Co Ltd
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