A Look Behind the Technology Gameplan of China’s Insurtech Giant, ZhongAn
by Fintech News Hong Kong August 27, 2019ZhongAn Online one of the leading insurtech companies in China, announced today its first six months interim results as of 30 June 2019.
By harnessing the latest technologies, ZhongAn Online continues to integrate technology into every process in the insurance sector so as to reshape the entire insurance value chain.
In the first half of 2019, the company invested RMB459.0 million (US$ 64 million) into research and development for insurtech . This has yielded 405 patent applications.
The automation rate of claim underwriting and settlement exceeded 99% and 95% respectively. Moreover, the proportion of artificial intelligence (AI) applied in online customer service reached 70%, achieving 61% of saving in manpower. The chatbot, ZhongAn ANswer, which was launched a year ago, served 300,000 users within one day at its peak.
ZhongAn’s technology arm seeing success
In terms of technology export, ZhongAn Online has focused on the field of insurtech, and further exported its insurtech capabilities to assist its clients (including insurance companies and internet platforms) to achieve digital transformation.
Through technology export, the number of contracted customers surpassed 170 in the first half of 2019, generating over RMB100 million (US$ 13 million) in revenue which marked a 193.1% year-on-year increase. 64% of these existing insurance system customers purchased additional insurance system modules from the company or upgraded their existing modules.
Meanwhile, in early 2019, ZA International joined hands with Grab, Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing giant to set up a joint venture, GrabInsure, to jointly explore the online insurance distribution business in the region.
ZA International is responsible for building up a digitalized insurance sales platform, and for providing the necessary technical support. In July this year, GrabInsure launched a usage-based online motor insurance product in partnership with 14 leading property and casualty insurers in Malaysia, who acted as the underwriters.
In March this year, the Company’s subsidiary ZA Bank was among the first batch of financial institutions that were granted a virtual banking license by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
This has opened the door to a new business segment. ZA Bank will make use of its proprietary technologies and big data capabilities to create innovative online financial products and services that cater to the needs of the local Hong Kong users.
“Over the first half of this year, ZhongAn has successfully exported our insurtech capabilities to Singapore and Malaysia. We will make continuous efforts to transform the insurance value chain by integrating technological innovation throughout the insurance business processes,”
said Mr. Xing JIANG, Chief Executive Officer of ZhongAn Online.
“We will also continue to make investment in the research and development of insurtech, and export our insurtech capabilities to both domestic and overseas markets. We aim to drive the transformation of the insurance industry in Asia, and all over the world.”
Featured image credit: A view of a ZhongAn Insurance office in Shanghai, Oct 29, 2017. [Photo/VCG]
