保险年鉴1
1981-1997年 《中国保险年鉴》·全国版·综述栏 1
改革开放 为中国保险事业注入新的生机
中国保险学会会长 马永伟
自1980年恢复国内保险业务至1996年,中国保险业中取得了辉煌业绩。
在这17年的发展历程中,中国的保险业经历了三个阶段:一是恢复初期的独家经营阶段,二是三足鼎立阶段,三是初步形成保险市场阶段。据统计,1980年全国保险费收入只有4.6亿元人民币,保险密度0.47元,保险深度0.10% ;1990年的保险费收入177.9亿元,保险密度15.56元,保险深度0.96% 。而到了1995年,保险费收入已达到683亿元,保险密度56.39元,保险深度1.17%。在这短短的17年里,中国保险业以平均每年高于30%的递增速度大发展,完全得益于经济体制的改革和对外开放政策的实施。
一、对中国保险史的简要回顾
中国民族保险业史开始于1885年在上海成立的“仁济和”保险公司。1949年前,中资保险业的总分支机构曾多达600余家,但其市场占有率仅为25%左右;而外资保险公司虽然只有60多家,但却拥有75%的市场份额。这说明实际上是外国保险资本控制着中国的保险市场。
中华人民共和国成立之后,政府非常重视民族保险事业的发展,为了适应社会主义经济建设的需要,于1949年10月20日在成立了国营的中国人民保险公司。同时,对外资保险公司实行了既限制又利用但以限制为主的政策,诸如在统一保险费率、直接业务和再保业务等方面都采取了果断的措施。总之,由于社会、政治、经济等各方面原因,所有外资保险公司均于1952年底之前陆续申请停业,自动撤退,包括苏联国外保险管理局1946年在大连设立的驻东北总代表办事处。当时,我国政府对民族私营保险公司实行了许多扶持性政策,这些私营的保险公司曾于1951年进行过合并改组,后来又经过资本主义工商业社会主义改造,终因它
们的财力有限以及其它社会原因,于1956年年中宣告停业。从此,中国保险业社会主义国有化的目标实现了,开始了由中国人民保险公司独家经营保险业务新局面。无论是国内保险业务还是涉外保险业务,无论是财产保险业务还是人身保险业务,无论是城市保险业务还是农村保险业务,都出现了轰轰烈烈的发展局面。
1958年10月,中央的西安财贸会议正式提出:“人民公社化以后,保险工作的作用已经消失,除国外保险业务必须继续办理外,国内保险业务应即停办”。到了12月,武汉全国财政会议正式作出决定:立即停办国内保险业务。1959年1月,中国人民保险公司召开第七次全国保险会议,贯彻落实国内保险业务停办精神,并布置了善后清理工作。至此,一度轰轰烈烈的国内保险业务进入了空前低谷。
1978年12月召开的中共十一届三中全会,不仅挽救了濒临破产的中国经济,同时也给中国的保险业带来了勃勃生机。1979年4月,国务院批转《中国人民银行全国分行行长会议纪要》。《纪要》指出:“开展保险业务,为国家积累资金,为国家和集体财产提供经济补偿。今后对引进的成套设备、补偿贸易的财产等,都要办理保险。凡需补偿外汇的保险业务,其保险费改收外币。保险公司所得的利润,不再上缴财政,留作国家发展保险事业的基金。为了使企业和社队发生意外损失时能及时得到补偿,而又不影响财政支出,要根据为生产服务、为群众服务和自愿原则,通过试点,逐步恢复国内保险。”紧接着中国人民银行下发了《关于恢复国内保险业务和加强保险机构的通知》。1979年11月,中国人民银行召开全国保险工作会议,决定从1980年起,恢复停办了20余年的国内保险业务。
二、人保公司独家经营阶段
2 《中国保险年鉴》·全国版·综述栏 1981-1997年
所谓独家经营,是指从1980年至1990年之间,在全国范围内经营保险业务的只有中国人民保险公司一家。这一阶段的历史对于奠定中国保险业的发展起到过巨大的作用,其经营方针的确定和变极大的影响。
1980年是恢复国内保险业务的第一年。到了年底,中国人民保险公司已在全国范围内300多个大中城市设立各级机构810多个,专职保险干部发展到3423人,当年共收保险费2.8亿元。1982年,开始恢复办理人身保险业务。险种有团体人身保险、团体人身意外伤害保险、简易人身保险、公路旅客意外伤害保险等。同年,还开展了耕牛保险、生猪保险、麦场火灾保险等。农业保险的试办工作。
1982年12月17日,国务院批复中国人民银行《关于成立中国人民保险公司董事会的报告》,并批准《中国人民保险公司章程》。该章程规定,中国人民保险公司是中华人民共和国的国营企业,是经营保险业务的专业公司。其经营范围为各种财产保险、人身保险、责任保险、信用保险、农业保险以及再保险等业务。1983年,中国人民保险公司正式升格为国务院直属局级经济实体,并于1984年1月1日起,正式从中国人民银行中分设出来,业务上仍然受中国人民银行的领导、管理、协调、监督和稽核。
扩充人员,组建机构。1980年国内保险业务恢复伊始,最感缺乏的是人才。停办了20多年,原有的保险专业人才都已经分散到社会的各个角落各条战线,甚至有的已经谢世多年,有的已经离、退休多年,有的已经成为另一条战线上的领导干部、业务骨干。面对这种形势该如何办呢?当时保险干部的来源有:
一是人民银行调配一部分干部到保险公司任职,这一部分人大概占当时人保公司总人数的一半以上。当时部分地区的涉外保险业务是隶属于中国银行的,一经恢复,便划归人民银行,所以人民银行调配的干部就多一些。这一部分人运用自己已有的金融知识和银行与企事业单位的关系,对发展保险业务发挥了很大的作用;二是向社会公布原保险
干部归队,这一部分人后来被称为“老保险”,老保险业的起步发展阶段发挥了重要作用;三是接收部队的转业干部和复员战士;四是向社会公开招聘,择优录用大、中专学生和其他从事相近专业的干部职工。这些来自四面八方的干部职工经过短期培训,就开始了保险业务工作。
到了1981年,保险从业人员几乎翻了一番,达到7954人。1983年,全系统共有分支机构1214个,的干部数猛增到19701人。1984年是中国人民保险公司发展史上重要的一年,因为这一年它从人民银行中分设出来,成为直接隶属于国务院的一个副部级的经济实体。全国省、自治区、直辖市的分公司也陆续升格为厅局级机构。到1985年底,保费收入达到32.65亿元,是1980年的11.66倍;人员发展到43437人,是1980年的9.22倍;机构数猛增到2420个,是1980年的3倍。再经过5年的发展,到了1990年底,保费收入达到155.76亿,机构发展到近4000个,人员增长到84750人,当年处理赔案302万件,已决赔款高达68亿元。对于一家国有保险公司来说,在其开业(恢复业务)之初,社会效益远比自身经济效益重要得多。及时、准确、合理地处理赔案,是最好的宣传和展业手段。
大力发展保险业务。第一是财产保险业务。1979年10月18日,中国人民银行、财政部、中国农业银行发出《关于恢复办理企业财产保险的联合通知》,《通知》指出“全民所有制企业和集体所有制企业的财产,包括固定资产和流动资金,都可以自愿参加保险。参加保险的财产一旦发生保险责任范围内的损失时,由保险公司按照保险契约的规定负责赔偿,国家财政不再核销或拨款。“这一通知,相当于为财产保险打开了通道。保险公司趁势而上,采取了一些加快发展的措施。
首先,修改制定保险条款。国内业务恢复之初,基本上是执行50年代的条款,带有强制保险和原苏联国家保险的色彩。1982年制定的新条款,不仅扩大了保险财产的范围,而且还扩大了保险责任的范围。其次,调整费率。1981年10月,将2‰的企业财产保险平均费率下调至1.6‰,工业险费率由
1981-1997年 《中国保险年鉴》·全国版·综述栏 3
原订的5级改为6级,取消原定的20%的浮动费率,改为根据具体情况适当降低保险费(10%范围内)的办法。再次,为了向深度和广度发展,实行了固定资产原值加成的承保办法,还充分利用各级政府红头文件的约束力(或者说是威慑力),来开辟新的业务,诸如在电力系统、煤炭工业系统的保险业务,都是在有关部门的协助下发展起来的。与此同时,还大力开办家庭财产保险。虽然直到1985年全国家庭财产保险只发展到2836万户家庭,收入保费仅7.7亿元人民币,但是,家庭财产保险已成机、民用船舶等。改革开放以来,我国的交通事业发展非常快,随之而来的交通事故也快速增加。中国人民保险公司为了给交通事业的发展提供风险保障,适时地开办了运输工具保险业务,而且其发展异常的快。到1990年,运输工具及责任险的保险费收入达到41亿元,约占当年总保费的40%左右,开始成为我国财产保险的重头戏。当年的运输工具及责任保险的赔款额为23亿元,约占当年保费收入的23%,是该项业务保费收入的56% 。据不完全统计,1990年民用汽车发展到551万多辆,民用运输船舶发展到42万艘,而这一年的交通事故数高达25万起,死伤人数达20余万人,直接经济损失为553亿元。为了保障在交通事故中受害者的经济利益,并且减少在处理交通事故时的诸多问题,从1983年开始,国务院有关部门要求所有机动车辆都必须向中国人民保险公司购买机动车辆第三者责任保险,逐渐地将第三者责任保险,通过立法程序作为法定保险来对待。没有购买第三者责任保险的,就不发给准运证,不让通过年检,这一点与国际惯例比较接近。
国内货物运输保险。处在动态之中的货物,更容易发生损毁。因此,货物运输保险开办比较早,1980年一恢复国内保险业务,就开始办理货运险。1986年,经国务院批准,由铁道部、交通部、国家民航总局发布的《铁路货物运输合同实施细则》、《公路货物运输合同实施细则》、《水陆货物运输合同实施细则》和《航空货物运输合同实施细则》,都明确提出实行保险与负责运输制相结合的补偿
制度。中国人民保险公司为了做到方便展业、方便理赔、方便管理,制订了通用型货运险承保、理赔办法,根据承运人、运输工具、货物危险程度的不同情况,利用费率机制调节成本,做到对于条款、条款解释、费率、理赔要求、实务单证5个统一,以解决货运险流动性大、业务涉及关系多、承保与理赔异地发生的特殊性带来的问题。货运险业务发展很快,1980年,只收入了50万元保费,1985年保费收入1.2亿多元, 1990年保费收入达到13.7亿元,十年增长了2740倍。货运险业务的经营效益比较好,一般情况下赔付率大致是25%左右,是一个效益险种。
农业保险。中共十一届三中全会以后,我国农村经济得到了大发展,政府对农业发展实行了倾斜政策,农村的改革推动了国民经济的全方位发展。人保公司恢复国内业务以后,在1982年就开始试办农业保险。财政部给予优惠政策:对农业保险不收工商税。中国人民保险公司确定的农业保险经营指导思想是:“收支平衡,略有节余,以备大灾之年”。但是,农业保险始终受其本身体制的约束,同时又受到农民承受能力的制约,所以,发展并不是很理想,1985年保费收入4332万元,赔付5266万元,赔付率为121%; 1990年,保费收入1.9亿多元,赔付1.67亿元,赔付率86.9% 。农业保险本应该是一种政策性保险业务,这在世界上绝大部分国家都是如此。但是,在我国的特定情况下,只能依靠国有独资保险公司来经营。农业的风险太大,农民的承受能力太低,国家的财政不富裕,在这种情况下发展农业保险比较困难。
海上保险。在相当长的时间内,人保公司都称之为国外业务,后来又改称为涉外业务。其主要特点是收取外汇作为保险费。涉外保险业务是我国保险业停滞期间唯一幸存的业务。1979年2月7日,中国人民银行、对外贸易部联合发出《关于对进出口货物保险问题的通知》,规定今后对进出口货物运输保险要改变“两个一般”的作法,实行“平等互利,方便贸易,由买方自愿选择”的原则。1980年后,人保总公司设立了国外业务部,各地分公司
4 《中国保险年鉴》·全国版·综述栏 1981-1997年
设立了国外业务科(随着机构升格改为国外业务处),拓展新渠道,开发新险种,研究新做法,采取新措施,大力发展涉外保险业务。最主要的是进一步修改条款和费率,以适应国际惯例和有利于国际间的竞争。1985年的进出口货物运输保险费为13492万美元,到了1990年就达到了20527万美元,其中主要是依赖出口货物运输保险的迅猛增长,如1985年为6169万美元,而在1990年就达到14255万美元。划归到涉外保险范畴的还有远洋船舶保险。新中国成立以后不久就建立起自己的远洋运输船队,中国人民保险公司承保的第一艘船是“光华”轮。到1983年止,中国远洋运输公司在中国人民保险公司投保的远洋船舶有602艘,646万总吨。1985年,船舶保险的保险费为3218万美元;1990年,保费为3518万美元。
其他涉外保险。我国改革开放初期,首先是引那时就统称为新险种。这一领域中的业务额较大,诸如核电站保险、卫星保险、工程保险及有关部门的责任保险和保证保险等。1985年,其保费收入仅为80万美元,到1990年保险费就猛增到17321万美元。
出口信用保险。它承保的是,在以信用方式出口商品时,由于买方破产、拖欠贷款、违约等(买家风险),或者买方所在国施加法律或行政限制等(国家风险),使出口合同无法履行,而给出口商或银行带来的经济损失。这种风险金额大、期限长,政策性和技术性强,所以一般都是由国家出面经营,或者委托商业保险公司代办,即使是发达国家也是如此。随着经济体制改革的深化,逐步实行了外贸出口多元化的战略,但是出口单位的风险并没有得到彻底解决。1988年,受国务院委托,经中国人民银行批准,中国人民保险公司设立了出口信用保险部,专门从事出口信用保险业务的实施和管理。对于这种政策性保险业务,人保公司是自主经营,单独管理,不以盈利为目的。其业务主要是办理机电产品的短期出口信用保险。进入90年代以后,中央财政又将出口信用保险的赔款准备金从4000万美元增加到1亿美元。出口信用保险的业务
范围也扩大到中长期出口信用保险。承保的范围也由机电产品扩大到非机电的大型成套设备。
第二是人身保险业务。人身保险是以人的生命和身体作为保险对象,以被保险人的生存、死亡、疾病、伤残等作为保险事故的一种保险。人身保险大致分为人寿保险、人身意外伤害保险、健康保险。1981年,人保公司开始修订人身保险条款,1982年便开始试办简易人身保险、团体人身保险、人身意外伤害保险和旅客意外伤害保险等险种。到1989年,险种多达50多个,保费收入达46亿元,占当年保费的32.3%,投保人数已达1.82亿人次。1990年的人身保险险种达到70多个,保费收入达到59.76亿元,占全部保费的40.1%,投保的人数达到2.19亿人次。
第三是再保险。中国的再保险业务始终是由中国人民保险公司来经营的,因此,从1949直到1996年以前,国内没有再保险公司,只有中国人民保险公司的再保险部,而且主要是负责与国外保险公司和再保险公司的再保险业务往来。
三、三足鼎立阶段
所谓“三足鼎立”是指中国人民保险公司、中国太平洋保险公司和中国平安保险公司三家全国性的保险公司。虽然在此时期已有新疆兵团、民安、天安、大众保险公司,甚至还有美国友邦、日本东京海上等外资保险公司,但是,他们是区域性的公司,且业务量较小,对全国保险市场影响不大。
中国太平洋保险公司1991年4月26日成立,总部设在上海。该公司是由交通银行控股的股份制保险公司,其前身是1987年成立的交通银行保险业务部,同时,该公司也借交通银行在各省的分支机构之便,快速设立机构,大力发展业务,一时间在全国四面八方对中国人民保险公司形成了一种市场冲击。截止1996年该公司在全国设立了近60家分公司、100多个支公司、150多个办事处,并在纽约、香港设立了子公司,在境外100多个国家和地区的170多个港口城市聘请了保险检验、理赔、追偿代理人。与国际保险界建立了广泛密切的业务合作关系。1996年中国太平洋保险公司的保费收入
1981-1997年 《中国保险年鉴》·全国版·综述栏 5
是87.6亿元。
中国太平洋保险公司1994年进行首次扩股,资本金达到10亿元,1995年再次扩股,吸收129家新股东,总数达到287家,资本金达到20亿元。该公司确定的经营方针是:以经营为中心、以效益为目标,积极拓展保险业务,实行独立核算、自主经营、自负盈亏、自担风险、自我约束。该公司创建不久,便提出以经济效益为中心,强调成本管理。这在当时普遍强调以社会效益为服务宗旨的大环境下,是很有超前意识的。
中国平安保险公司1992年6月4日成立,前身是1988年3月21日成立于深圳经济特区蛇口工业区的平安保险公司。当时,虽然其业务范围仅限于深圳一地,但是,它却是中国保险市场上第一家股份制保险公司。1992年6月4日,经中国人民银行批准,平安保险公司更名为中国平安保险公司,成为第一家全国性的综合性的股份制保险公司。该公司提出的服务宗旨是“信誉第一、效率第一、客户至上、服务至上”。其在实践中形成的经营策略是“以产险为基础、以寿险为重点、以证券、信托为两翼、以海外业务为补充”。截止1996年,平安保险公司已有48家股东,其中还有2家是美国财加坡代表处和在香港设立了中国平安保险海外(控股)有限公司。
1996年,该公司确定的经营方针是“业务增长、成本控制、强化管理、规范经营”。当年的保费收入达到105亿元,实现利润5.3亿元,市场占有率提高到14%。公司资产总额达到了150亿,员工5万人(含营销员)。
四、保险市场初步形成阶段
到了1996年,中国保险市场发生了重大的变化。根据《中华人民共和国保险法》关于产寿险分业经营的规定,一方面是中国人民保险公司按照国务院的部署改建成集团公司,下辖三个子公司,即中保财产保险公司、中保人寿保险公司和中保再保险公司,它们都是独立法人。这样一来,全国性保险公司就有5家了。另一方面,经过中国人民银行的批准,1996年年初又成立了3家全国性股份制保
险公司,即华泰财产保险股份有限公司、泰康人寿保险股份有限公司、新华人寿保险股份有限公司。华泰财产保险公司于1996年8月29日正式开业,其总部设在北京。泰康人寿保险公司于1996年8月22日正式开业,总部设在北京。新华人寿保险公司于1996年9月正式开业,总部设在北京。与此同时,中国人民银行还批准成立2家区域性财产保险公司,即永安财产保险股份有限公司和华安财产保险股份有限公司,前者于1996年9月28日正式开业,总部设在西安。后者于1996年10月18日正式开业,总部设在深圳。截止1996年底,在中国保险市场上共有全国性的保险公司8家、区域性的保险公司13家(内资5家,合资1家,外资分公司7家)。中国的保险市场已初步形成。
关于保险机构的设置情况,还有一个小插曲,即在九十年代初期,监管部门为了尽快建立起一个保险市场,特别是要大力促进一下当时非常滞后的人寿保险业,便先后批准成立了15家地方性人寿保险公司,它们是大连、沈阳、厦门、珠海、湘潭、本溪、丹东、天津、哈尔滨、太原、福州、广州、南京、鞍山和昆明人寿保险公司。但是,由于诸多的原因,这些人寿保险公司多数都没有大的作为。直到1996年人保公司改建时,又陆续划归中国人寿保险公司。
保险主体的增加,产、寿险的分业经营,特别是股份制保险公司的加盟,不仅活跃了保险市场,而且是促进了保险业务的大发展。1994年全国保险保费收入498亿元,1995年达到615亿元,1996年上升到756亿元。
五、保险监管与保险法规
保险监管。国家对保险业的监督管理,是通过颁布各种保险法律、法规、建立专门的保险管理机构来实施的。国家保险管理机构是指由政府规定和设立的专门监督管理保险经营主体和保险经营活动的机构。由于保险业的特殊性,世界各国政府对保险业都实行严格的监督管理。中国的保险监管机构经历了由弱势趋向强市、由综合性向专业化发展的过程。1980年恢复国内保险业务以后,虽然一直
1981-1997年 《中国保险年鉴》·全国版·综述栏 5
是87.6亿元。
中国太平洋保险公司1994年进行首次扩股,资本金达到10亿元,1995年再次扩股,吸收129家新股东,总数达到287家,资本金达到20亿元。该公司确定的经营方针是:以经营为中心、以效益为目标,积极拓展保险业务,实行独立核算、自主经营、自负盈亏、自担风险、自我约束。该公司创建不久,便提出以经济效益为中心,强调成本管理。这在当时普遍强调以社会效益为服务宗旨的大环境下,是很有超前意识的。
中国平安保险公司1992年6月4日成立,前身是1988年3月21日成立于深圳经济特区蛇口工业区的平安保险公司。当时,虽然其业务范围仅限于深圳一地,但是,它却是中国保险市场上第一家股份制保险公司。1992年6月4日,经中国人民银行批准,平安保险公司更名为中国平安保险公司,成为第一家全国性的综合性的股份制保险公司。该公司提出的服务宗旨是“信誉第一、效率第一、客户至上、服务至上”。其在实践中形成的经营策略是“以产险为基础、以寿险为重点、以证券、信托为两翼、以海外业务为补充”。截止1996年,平安保险公司已有48家股东,其中还有2家是美国财加坡代表处和在香港设立了中国平安保险海外(控股)有限公司。
1996年,该公司确定的经营方针是“业务增长、成本控制、强化管理、规范经营”。当年的保费收入达到105亿元,实现利润5.3亿元,市场占有率提高到14%。公司资产总额达到了150亿,员工5万人(含营销员)。
四、保险市场初步形成阶段
到了1996年,中国保险市场发生了重大的变化。根据《中华人民共和国保险法》关于产寿险分业经营的规定,一方面是中国人民保险公司按照国务院的部署改建成集团公司,下辖三个子公司,即中保财产保险公司、中保人寿保险公司和中保再保险公司,它们都是独立法人。这样一来,全国性保险公司就有5家了。另一方面,经过中国人民银行的批准,1996年年初又成立了3家全国性股份制保
险公司,即华泰财产保险股份有限公司、泰康人寿保险股份有限公司、新华人寿保险股份有限公司。华泰财产保险公司于1996年8月29日正式开业,其总部设在北京。泰康人寿保险公司于1996年8月22日正式开业,总部设在北京。新华人寿保险公司于1996年9月正式开业,总部设在北京。与此同时,中国人民银行还批准成立2家区域性财产保险公司,即永安财产保险股份有限公司和华安财产保险股份有限公司,前者于1996年9月28日正式开业,总部设在西安。后者于1996年10月18日正式开业,总部设在深圳。截止1996年底,在中国保险市场上共有全国性的保险公司8家、区域性的保险公司13家(内资5家,合资1家,外资分公司7家)。中国的保险市场已初步形成。
关于保险机构的设置情况,还有一个小插曲,即在九十年代初期,监管部门为了尽快建立起一个保险市场,特别是要大力促进一下当时非常滞后的人寿保险业,便先后批准成立了15家地方性人寿保险公司,它们是大连、沈阳、厦门、珠海、湘潭、本溪、丹东、天津、哈尔滨、太原、福州、广州、南京、鞍山和昆明人寿保险公司。但是,由于诸多的原因,这些人寿保险公司多数都没有大的作为。直到1996年人保公司改建时,又陆续划归中国人寿保险公司。
保险主体的增加,产、寿险的分业经营,特别是股份制保险公司的加盟,不仅活跃了保险市场,而且是促进了保险业务的大发展。1994年全国保险保费收入498亿元,1995年达到615亿元,1996年上升到756亿元。
五、保险监管与保险法规
保险监管。国家对保险业的监督管理,是通过颁布各种保险法律、法规、建立专门的保险管理机构来实施的。国家保险管理机构是指由政府规定和设立的专门监督管理保险经营主体和保险经营活动的机构。由于保险业的特殊性,世界各国政府对保险业都实行严格的监督管理。中国的保险监管机构经历了由弱势趋向强市、由综合性向专业化发展的过程。1980年恢复国内保险业务以后,虽然一直
6 《中国保险年鉴》·全国版·综述栏 1981-1997年
是由中国人民银行监管,但是,其行使监督管理的具体部门也几经变动,由最先的金融管理司下设的保险合作社管理处,改为非银行金融管理司的保险处,又从非银行金融管理司的保险处分变为保险司。这说明随着中国保险业发展和保险市场的形成,保险监管与调控将变得越来越重要。
保险监管的内容和范围。中国人民银行对保险的监管职责是:拟定保险事业的方针、政策,审批保险企业的设立,指导、监督保险企业的业务活动,审定基本保险条款和保险费率,检查保险企业的会计帐册和报表单据,并对保险企业在经营业务中违反国家法律、法规、政策,或者损害被保险人的利益的行为,给予经济制裁,直至令其停业。
保险法规。在《中华人民共和国保险法》颁布之前,政府对保险业的监管的法律依据是1981年3月颁布的《中华人民共和国经济合同法》、1983年9月国务院发布的《中华人民共和国财产保险合同条例》、1985年3月国务院发布的《保险企业管理暂行条例》、1992年11月国家颁布的《中华人民共和国海商法》第十二章至第十五章的规、1996年7月中国人民银行公布的《保险管理暂行规定》,以及1992年11月由中国人民银行发布的《上海外资保险机构暂行管理办法》。
中国人民银行于1992年成立了《中华人民共和国保险法》起草小组,成员由来自人行、人保、太保、平保等公司及部分保险专家和学者组成。中国人民保险公司董事长兼总经理秦道夫同志担任组长。起草小组经过两年多的时间,对中国保险市国《保险法》(草稿)。尔后广泛征求各行业和大专院校的意见,数易其稿。先由中国人民银行提交有关部门审查和通过,再报送给全国人大法制委员会。1995年6月30日第八届全国人民代表大会常务委员会第四十次会议通过《中华人民共和国保险法》。1995年6月30日中华人民共和国主席令第五十一号公布,并规定自1995年10月1日起施行。我国的《保险法》共八章一百五十二条。
六、保险教育和培训
保险人才预测。根据国家教育部、国家计委和
劳动人事部1983年7月关于进行全国专门人才现状调查和需求预测的通知,中国人民保险公司也进行了人才需求预测。预测结果是:职工人数1985年达到4万人,1990年达到7万人,2000年达到11万人。中专以上专门人才占职工总数的比例,1990年为40%,2000年为70%。需求较多的专业是财政金融、财会、英语、统计等11个类别。预测认为保险事业的发展,急需大量的保险专业人才。当时只有一所高等院校即中央财金学院开设了国际保险专业,因此,预测需求与人才供给之间形成了很大的差距。为缩小这一差距,一方面建议教育部对保险专业进行抢救,尽快在有条件的高等院校开设保险专业,以确保长期稳定地向保险行业输送专门人才;另一方面,人保公司决定拿出几千万元利润留成投资高校办学。
委托办学。除了隶属于财政部的中央财金学院于1980年率先开办保险专业,每年招生40名之外,中国人民银行金融研究生部于1982年开始招收保险专业研究生6名。中国人民保险公司为了中国的民族保险事业能够永续发展,先后与南开大学、武汉大学、辽宁大学和四川财经学院,签订了委托办学的协议。协议规定,每所学校每年招生30-40人,在校生规模120-160人,同时还要招收两年制的干部专科生30人。对这4所院校一次性投资共920万元,以后又相继资助中央电大、中央财院、上海财院、北京财贸学院等高等院校,共160万元。为了满足社会需求,中国人民银行所属的金融专科学校也开设了保险专业。为保证顺利实施委托办学的具体方案,人保公司牵头组织培训教师、编写教材。于1985年出版了第一本综合性的保险专业教科书——《社会主义保险学》。1987年组织了5个写作班子,编写出了供中央电大使用的5本教材:《保险学概论》,《财产保险》,《人身保险》,《农业保险》和《海上保险》。巨额的投入收到了丰硕的果实。截止1996年底,委托院校毕业保险专业本科生2600名、普通专科生900名、电大专科生1600名、干部专科生480名、银行学校毕业的中专生9200名。他们中的绝大多数已成为保险业的骨干,有的已成
1981-1997年 《中国保险年鉴》·全国版·综述栏 7
为出色的中高层管理者。
与此同时,等40多所高校也开办了保险专业建设保险院校。中国人民保险公司为了尽快提高本系统干部的素质,决心建立属于自己的成人高等院校。经国家教委批准,于1986年9月8日在湖南长沙成立了中国保险管理干部学院,这是中国第一所专门的高等保险学院。学院设有保险经济系、保险管理系、保险信息系和基础课部,教师近百名,在校学生1200多人,全部来自人保系统各基层公司。除了培养国家承认学历的专科生之外,还承担着人保系统中高层干部的短期培训任务。先后举办了90多期,培训了5000人次。该校1992年4月被国家教委授予“全国成人高等教育先进学校”的称号。
为了满足广大基层公司的人才需求,中国人民保险公司决定建立隶属于自己的中专学校。从1986年起,陆续建立起了哈尔滨保险学校、广州保险学校、南昌保险学校和成都保险学校。分别面向东北华北、中南、华东和西南西北招生,全部充实到人保系统的基层单位。
岗位培训。各家公司一经成立,就在规划发展业务的同时,筹备建立人员培训体系,从培训基地到培训教材,从培训师资到受训人员。几家大公司不仅向国外保险公司或者境外培训基地派出大量人员接受培训,还千方百计引进外国保险智力,诸如英国皇家保险学会(CII)的资格考试,美国的CPCU资格考试,英国的LOMA资格考试等。 纵观这17年来中国的保险教育和培训,已经形成了一个多层次、多渠道、多元化的完整的体系。整个保险系统的人员素质是在逐步地提高。仅以中国人民保险公司为例,1984年,其干部总数中具有大专以上学历者只占9.42%,中专者占18.66%,高中以下者占71.92%;到了1989年,这三个比例就发生了如下的变化,大专以上者占22%,中专者占者占28.6%,高中以下者只占23.9% 。
七、保险中介机构
据统计,1994年中国人民保险公司在全国30个省、自治区、直辖市设有代理网点11.5万个,专
兼职代理人员20余万人。截止1995年9月,中国平安保险公司仅产险代理网点就达2700多个,代理人员7000多人。值得一提的是友邦上海分公司将人身险营销方式——代理人制度带进了中国并获得了成功。1993年该公司有300余名代理人,到了1994年底,其代理人的数目猛增到4000多人。1995年底,中国平安保险公司寿险代理人激增到1.2万人。据不完全统计,1995年底,全国有保险代理人共计30余万人,大约40%的保险业务收入是通过代理获得的。
保险经纪人是另一种保险中介机构。是指代表被保险人的利益,与保险人签订保险合同,并向接受承保的保险人收取佣金的人。保险经纪人随着近代保险业的产生而产生,随着现代保险业的发展而发展。1993年,中国保险市场上曾出现过以下三种类型的保险经纪人:中资保险经纪公司,发端于深圳,活动于北京、天津、广州、海口、南京、成都等大城市;以外资为代表的保险经纪公司,如北京有塞奇维克保险风险咨询有限公司等;港澳地区的保险经纪人也纷纷介入深圳、上海、北京等地的保险市场。但是,由于历史的原因,在90年代中国出现的保险经纪人,在其产生、经营和发展中,出现了很多亟待解决的问题。但1995年颁布的《保险法》还是对保险经纪人的作用予以了肯定。 保险公估行(公证人),是指根据委托,为保险人或被保险人办理有关保险标的的查勘、鉴定、估价或定损理算等事宜,并向委托人收取费用的人。随着中国保险市场的发展,保险公估行应运而生了。1993年3月18日,上海诞生了中国第一家保险公估行——东方公估行。随后,陆续成立了天津北方公估行、山东公估行、南京公估行、厦门公估行、上海大洋物产公估有限公司等几家公估行。鉴于公估行秉持“公证、中立”的社会服务宗旨,做出的鉴定容易为被保险人和保险人所接受,从而为“迅速、准确、主动、合理”的进行保险理赔创造了条件。随着保险市场的发展和完善,保险公估行的作用将会显得日益重要。
八、保险行业的自律
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保险市场初步形成,市场上的竞争日益激烈,各家保险公司为了自身的利益,都采取了一些措施参与竞争。因此出现了不正当的竞争行为,诸如盲目降低保险费率,不适当地提高手续费等,不仅影响了各保险公司的偿付能力,而且造成整个保险市场的混乱。正是在这样的背景下,行业自律被提上了议事日程。
保险行业自律,一方面是解决各保险机构之间的竞争问题,也即自律,另一方面是协调保险机构
与国家保险监管机构及其他各行各业的关系,也即维权。当前中国保险市场上的行业自律组织是保险行业协会(保险同业公会)。截止1995年底,在北京、上海、深圳、天津、成都、杭州、南京、大连、海南、济南、广州等地相继成立了保险同业公会。每一家同业公会都是一个独立法人,都有自己的章程和议事规则。可以预计,随着中国保险市场的逐步完善,保险行业的自律组织也将健康发展,并将随着保险监管力度的加强发挥更大的行律作用。
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Vigorously Developing the Insurance Industry of China through
Reforming and Opening up
Mr. Ma Yongwei Chairman of China Insurance Regulatory Commission
There has been 17 years since China’s insurance sector resumed operation in 1980. These 17 years was the golden development period of China’s insurance industry. I have never doubted that, the prime age of China’s insurance industry will continue far into the future.
The development of China’s insurance industry in the past 17 years can be generalized into 3 periods: a single-company market at the early stage of resumed operation, three-pillared market with the competition mechanism emerging, and the current acutely competitive stage with multiple players. In these short 17 years, China’s insurance industry grew at a stunting 30% strong rate every year. This high growth rate was mainly attributed to the reform of China’s economic structure and the implementation of the opening-up policy. As I have said, this period was, with not doubt, the golden age for the development of insurance industry in China. Such an assertion was derived from many facts: the network of insurance companies has reached down to the townships all over China; the awareness of insurance protection among the public was greatly enhanced; and for the whole 17 years, the growth rate of the insurance sector has been quicker than the gross national product as a whole. As a matter of fact, the penetration and density of both life insurance and property insurance has increased significantly over these years, and a national insurance market also gradually took its form in this period. It is safe to say that at this stage of development, insurance industry has become an indispensable component of the economy. The following statistics may speak louder for my opinion: The premium income in 1980 was only 460 million yuan RMB and the insurance density and penetration was 0.47 yuan and 0.10% respectively; in 1990, the insurance revenue was increased to 17.79 billion yuan and insurance density and penetration to 15.56 yuan and 0.96% respectively; and when it came to 1995, the insurance premium rose to 68.3 billion yuan and insurance density and penetration to 56.39 yuan and 1.17%.
I. Looking Retrospectively on the History of Insurance Industry in China
The origin of China’s national insurance industry can be traced back to 1885 when “Ren Ji He” Insurance Company was founded in Shanghai. The number of offices of Chinese insurance companies, including their head office and branches, once reached more than 600 at that time, but the market share of them was only 25% or so. In contrast to that, the market share of foreign insurance companies then operating in China was 75%, although there were only 60 of them. This indicates that foreign insurance companies dominated the Chinese market at that time.
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the new government regarded insurance industry as an important section of the economy and therefore decided to set up the People’s Insurance Company of China on October 20 of 1949. It was a state-run company and shouldered the important mission of developing China’s insurance industry in compliance with the needs of the socialist
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economic construction. The policy towards foreign insurance companies operating in China at that time was restricting and making use of them at once but mainly restricting their development. Restrictive measures lay in many areas such as uniform premium rate, operation of primary insurance business and reinsurance business, etc.. Because of social, economical and political reasons, all foreign insurance companies stopped their operation in China by the end of 1952 and withdrew from China’s market. The General Representative Office of Northeast China, set up in Dalian in 1946 by the Administration Bureau of Overseas Insurance Companies of former Soviet Union, also closed down in this period. Meanwhile, the government was supportive of privately owned Chinese insurance companies in many aspects. Many of these private companies merged with other insurance companies or were restructured in 1951. They also went through the socialist transformation on capitalist industrial and commercial firms but finally ceased operation in 1956 because of its own limited financial strength and other social factors. This marked the attainment of the goal that insurance industry in China was purely state-owned and that, the People’s Insurance Company of China was the sole practitioner of insurance on mainland China. From then on, China’s insurance industry has witnessed a brisk and all-round development, no matter it is domestic insurance or overseas business, property insurance or life insurance and insurance in urban areas or rural areas.
During the Financial and Trade Conference of the central government held in Xi’an in October, 1958, it was formally pointed out that the domestic insurance business was to be terminated immediately because, with the existence of the People’s Community all over China, the protective function of the insurance industry had become nominal. The conference deemed it necessary to continue overseas
insurance business. The Wuhan National Conference on Finance and Commerce in December of the same year officially endorsed the proposal of Xi’an Conference and required all domestic insurance business to be stopped immediately. The People’s Insurance Company of China convened its seventh national conference for the implementation of the instruction of the government and also preparing itself with matters arising out of the process of settlement.
The once high-powered domestic insurance business was plummeted into the abysmal bottom.
The 3rd Session of the 11th National Congress of the CPC convened in December 1978 not only saved China’s economy verging on the brink of collapse, but also injected life-saving vitality into China’s insurance industry. In April of 1974, the State Council circularized “Minutes of the Conference of Presidents of All Branch Banks of the People’s Bank of China”. The Minutes pointed out that “Insurance can accumulate capital for the state and provide financial compensation to the state and collective organizations. All whole sets of equipment imported and the property in compensation trade should be insured from now on. Insurance business that needs foreign currency subsidy should charge foreign currency-denominated premium. Insurance companies don’t have to turn in their profits to the Ministry of Finance. They can retain their profit as a development fund. To have enterprises and communities receive prompt compensation after accidental losses and at the same time incur no pressure on the government’s budget, the domestic insurance business should be gradually resumed on a volunteer basis first through cautious experimentations.” Soon after that, the People’s Bank of China issued “ Circular on Resumption of Domestic Insurance Business and
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Strengthening of Insurance Company”. In November, the People’s Bank of China decided to resume domestic insurance business early 1980 during a nationwide insurance conference. To this date, the domestic insurance business of China had been suspended for over 20 years.
II. The People’s Insurance Company as the Sole Insurance Company in China
The so-called monopolization by one insurer refers to the situation that there was only one insurance company, the People’s Insurance Company of China, wrote insurance business in China on a nationwide scale during 1980 to 1990. This period has great impact on the later development of the insurance industry in China. The operation strategies and their evolvement, the development of insurance business, organization and restructuring of it and the training and employment of personnel, all have prints on the later insurance industry and insurance market. I think, therefore, this period of time deserves a lengthy elaboration.
1980 was the first year that China resumed its insurance business on the domestic market. By the end of this year, the People’s Insurance Company of China had set up over 810 offices and branches in over 300 intermediate to large cities all over the country and trained 3423 insurance personnel. The premium income of 1980 was 280 million yuan RMB. In 1982, the company started to write life insurance business with products like group life insurance, group personal accident insurance, industrial life insurance, highway passenger accident insurance, etc.. PICC also experimented with agricultural insurance in this year, first with farm cattle insurance and live pig insurance and then extended to wheat fire insurance.
On December 17, 1982, the State Council granted its approval on “A Report on the Formation of the Board of Director of the
People’s Insurance Company of China” submitted by the People’s Bank of China and also the “Charter of the People’s Insurance Company of China”. The Charter endorsed in formal writing that the People’s Insurance Company of China was a state company of the People’s Republic of China and specialized in insurance business. According to the Charter, the lines of insurance written by PICC included property insurance, life insurance, liability insurance, credit insurance, agricultural insurance and reinsurance business. PICC was upgraded to be an legal entity directly reporting to the State Council in 1983 and separated from the People’s Bank of China on January 1 of 1984. However, the People’s Bank of China was still in a position to guide the development of PICC’s insurance business and supervise, coordinate and audit its business activities.
Personnel Recruitment and Structural Construction
The most pressing matter facing PICC was the shortage of people when it resumed domestic insurance business in 1980. People were the key for every undertaking. Without people, no business could be done no matter how good the business idea or the enterprise was. During the past 20 years when domestic insurance business was suspended, insurance professionals drifted away to all walks of life and became leaders or key technical personnel on their new positions. Many of them had even passed away and, still more of them had already retired. The big question on the management team of PICC was where all these people came from.
The first source of people was from the People’s Bank of China. These people transferred to PICC from the central band accounted from more than 50% of the employees on the pay roll of PICC at that time. The overseas insurance business in some regions of China used to belong to the People’s
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Bank of China. This section of business was transferred to the central bank when the domestic business was resumed. That was the reason why there were so many people in PICC coming from the central bank. These people had been very helpful for the growth of insurance business because they were not only well acquainted with the financial industry but also had good connections with many enterprises. The second source of people was veteran insurance people. PICC announced publicly its appealing to all veteran insurance personnel to return to work in PICC. These people, dubbed “veteran insurance” later by some insurance practitioners took up most of the positions at high or intermediary management levels. The third source of people was publicly recruited from graduates of middle schools, universities and vocational schools. Some people working in enterprises whose business was similar to insurance also responded to recruitment advertisement of PICC. This group of people went through a short-term training session before they settled down on specific posts in the company.
Because of all these measures, the work force of PICC rose to 7954 by 1981, nearly doubled the original number. There were altogether 1214 offices and branches in PICC’s national network by 1983 and the number of employees all over China jumped to 19701. The year 1984 was an important year in the history of PICC. In this year, PICC was formally separated from the People’s Bank of China and was also upgraded to be quasi-ministerial entity directly under the State Council. It had much more decision-making power from then on although it was still under the supervision of the People’s Bank of China in many aspects. Its branch companies at provincial, autonomous region and independent municipality levels were also upgraded to the departmental rank in succession. The company witnessed quick growth during 1984 and 1985 no matter in
business, work force or networks. Its business volume rose up to 3.26 billion yuan RMB, 11.66 times of the 280 million yuan of 1980, by the end of 1985. There were 43437 employees at the end of 1985, which was 9.22 times of the 4710 employees of 1980, and the number of offices in its distribution network soared up to 2420, 3 times of the 810 offices in 1980. This growth momentum lasted. Five years later in 1990, the premium income of the company reached 15.58 billion yuan RMB, the number of offices in its distribution network to nearly 4000 and the number of employees to 84750. 3.02 million claims were handled only in the year of 1990 and 6.8 billion yuan was paid out by the company to its policyholders. For a state insurance company at the very beginning of its operation, the social benefits that it could created was much more important to the profits that it could earn for itself. Timely and accurate settlement of claims on a reasonable basis was the best publicity and promotion of an insurance company.
Developing Insurance Business at Full Steam
The focus of business development for the company was property insurance at that time, and among all types of property insurance business, the insurance for corporate property was put on the far front of the agenda. On October 18 of 1979, “A Joint Circular on Resuming Corporate Property Insurance” was issued jointly by the People’s Bank of China, the Ministry of Finance and the Agricultural Bank of China. The Circular stipulated that “The property, both fixed assets and liquid assets, of wholly state-owned enterprises or collectively-owned enterprises can be insured on a voluntary basis. The enterprise would be compensated by the insurance company according to the provisions of the contract if the covered events occurred on properties of the enterprise and losses were incurred thereof. At the same time, the enterprise would not
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receive state appropriation for the losses occurred and it was not allowed to write off the properties damaged.” This circular was no less than a green light to property insurance business. Now let’s see what specific measures the insurance company had taken in the time being.
The first measure that PICC took was to revise provisions of its insurance contracts. At the beginning of its resumed operation, PICC used insurance contracts of the 50’s which had stains of compulsory insurance and feature of Soviet Union insurance. The new contract of the 1982 not only enlarged its coverage to include more items of property but also included more liabilities on the part of the insurance company. The second measure was to readjust the premium rate of different insurance contracts. The rate for corporate property insurance was adjusted from 2 ‰downward to 1.6 ‰ on average in October, 1981. The rate of industry insurance was also changed from Grade 5 to Grade 6 and replaced the 20% adjustment range with the provision that premium rate might be lowered by at most 10% on a case-by-case basis. In order to expand both the depth and penetration of insurance, the company adopted an underwriting method which applied the historical value of fixed assets with added value of certain size. It also made full use of the constraint or deterrence power of various formal documents of the government to explore into new business areas such as the electricity system, coal mining and refining sector and so forth. Apart from opening up the market of corporate property insurance, PICC also intensified its efforts in developing household property insurance although it only acquired a negligible premium volume of 770 million yuan RMB by 1985 and the number of families thus covered was only 2836. The significance of the household insurance business didn’t lie in the size of premium at that time but in the fact that it was
among the first kinds of insurance bought by individual families.
Development of transportation vehicles insurance, namely insurance of cars, trolley buses, motorcycles, tractors, and civil ships. China’s transportation industry experi- enced a rapid development ever since the policy of reform and opening-up was adopted. A side effect arising out of this process was the increasing occurrences of traffic accidents. In order to provide protection to the transportation sector in China, PICC designed transportation vehicles insurance and put it on the market in good time. Although not totally out of anticipation, the growth of this business was still amazingly higher than expected. By the year 1990, the annual premium income from transportation vehicle insurance and liability insurance reached 4.1 billion yuan RMB, roughly 40% of the total premium income of that year. This meant that transportation vehicles insurance became a pillar business of property insurance companies in China at that time. The benefits paid out for transportation vehicle insurance and liability insurance was 2.3 billion yuan which was about 23% of premium income of these two insurances in 1990. Incomplete statistics showed that there were about 5.51 million cars and 420,000 ships for civil use in 1990 and the number of traffic accidents was as high as 250,000, causing over 200,000 people dead or injured and a total direct loss of 55.3 billion yuan. To protect the interests of victims in traffic accidents and reduce an array of problems arising out of traffic accidents, competent department of the State Council stipulated that all motor vehicles should be insured against the third party liability with PICC from the year of 1983. The third party liability insurance afterwards passed as an statutory insurance in formal legal proceedings. Motor vehicles with no third party liability insurance would not be granted licenses and would therefore not be able to pass
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the yearly check on vehicles. China was on a par with international practices in this area at an early stage of its insurance development.
Domestic Cargo Transportation Insurance Cargoes on the move are more liable to damage. That explained the early origination of cargo transportation insurance. This line of insurance was started as soon as the insurance business was resumed in 1980 in China. In 1986, with the approval of the State Council, the Railway Department, the Transportation Department and the State Civil Aviation Administration jointly issued several documents: “Detailed Provisions on the Implementation of Railway Cargo Transportation Contract”, “Detailed Provisions on the Implementation of Highway Cargo Transportation Contract”, “Detailed Provisions on the Implementation of Waterway Cargo Transportation Contract” and “Detailed Provisions on the Implementation of Airway Cargo Transportation Contract”. These documents also specified that victims in cargo transportation would be compensated jointly according to the transportation insurance contract and the transportation contract with the consignees. PICC designed uniform provisions on underwriting and claim handling of cargo transportation insurance which greatly simplified the processes of business acquisition, claim settlement and management of in-force policies. The insurer would propose different premium rate according to factors such as the consignee, the transportation vehicle and the liability of cargo to be damaged. The cargo transportation insurance was characterized by high mobility and multiplicity of parties involved. What also made it more complicated was that underwriting and claim settlement of a case took place at different places in many cases. To counteract all these problems, the company unified its policy provisions, interpretation of the policies, premium rate, requirements for claims and operational processes. These problems being well guarded
against, the cargo transportation insurance grew quickly, with the premium income of 1985 rising to more than 120 million yuan against a mere 500,000 yuan of 1980. The premium income further increased to 1.37 billion yuan by 1990, a tenfold increase in 10 years from 1980. This was a profitable line of business for the company and the payout rate stood at 25% or so. Therefore the emphasis that company accorded to it was well justified.
The Iissue of Agricultural Insurance
After the 3rd Session of the 11th National Congress, China’s rural economy developed quickly owing to the preferential policy of the government to agriculture. Reform in the rural area also propelled an all-round expansion of the national economy. PICC started to write agricultural insurance on an experimental basis from 1982, two years after it resumed domestic operation. The Ministry of Finance granted favorable policy towards agricultural insurance business and exempt the company’s commercial tax of agricultural insurance. The guiding principle of PICC towards agricultural insurance was “Balancing income and expenditure with small surplus for years of catastrophe”. However, agricultural insurance had its own inherent constraints and was also limited by the level of risk tolerance of the rural population, therefore its development was not up to people’s expectation. The premium income of 1985 was 43.32 million yuan but the amount paid out by the company was 52.66 million yuan, registering a payout rate of 121%. The year 1990 saw some improvement in this business signaled by the fact that the payout rate lowered to 86.9% and the premium income was 190 million yuan in contrast to the payout of 167 million yuan. Agricultural insurance, because of its inherent features, should be undertaken by the government, which was the case in most of the countries. However, in China, specific social situations required that this could only be done by a state-owned
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insurance company. The risky nature of agricultural insurance, compounded with low risk tolerance of the peasants and insufficient government subsidy, made the development of agricultural insurance very difficult in those days.
Marine Insurance
Marine insurance was categorized as overseas insurance by PICC for a very long period of time and was once labeled as foreign-related business. The major differentiating feature of marine insurance was its foreign-currency denominated premium. Overseas insurance was the only section of business of PICC that survived while all other sections were suspended or stopped. What was resumed in 1980 was domestic insurance business, while for overseas insurance business that had barely managed to survive, it was an opportunity to shake up and forge ahead. On February 7, 1979, the People’s Bank of China and the Ministry of Foreign Trade jointly issued “ A Circular on Insuring Imports and Exports”. The Circular stipulated that insurance of imports or exports should be carried out according to the principle of “equality and mutual benefits, focusing the closing of trade and at the discretion of the buyer”. PICC set up an overseas business department in its head office and corresponding divisions in its branches after 1980. On the strength of favorable policy, this new department devoted itself to the expansion of overseas business by revising existing products, designing new products and updating operational processes in conformity with international practices. The premium income in 1985 from transportation insurance for imports and exports was 134.92 million yuan and this figure reached 205.27 million in 1990. The quick growth was mainly attributable to the rapid increase of exports insurance which generated a premium income of $ 1.69 million (USD) in 1985 and 142.55 million (USD) in 1990. Another type of insurance falling under
the overseas insurance category was insurance of sea-going ships. China established her own sea-going fleet shortly after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The first ship that was covered by PICC was “Guang Hua” ship. By the end of 1983, PICC had provided insurance for 602 ships, a total tonnage of 64.6 million of The premium income from sea-going ship insurance was 32.18 million yuan in 1985 and 35.18 million yuan in 1990.
Other Foreign-related Insurance Business The most important task facing China on its adoption of reform and opening-up policy was to attract foreign investments. The measure that China took at the moment was dubbed as “ Three In-goings and One Compensation Trade”. This form of foreign investment later evolved to forming joint ventures with Chinese enterprises. All these new developments gave rise to new sources of insurance business for PICC, called as new insurance business at that time. There were quite some large-coverage cases in areas of foreign investment, for example, nuclear power station insurance, satellite insurance, project insurance and liability insurance and surety insurance of some departments. The volume of premium from these new businesses was only 800,000 USD in 1985, but in 1990, this number jumped to 173.21 million USD.
Export Credit Insurance
When the exporter exports its goods on credit, the export credit insurance will compensated for the losses occurred to the bank or exporter in case of bankruptcy, default or breach of contract (buyer risk) on the part of the buyer or the non-fulfillment of the contract because of legal or administrative constraints of the buyer country. This type of insurance usually involves a large amount-at-risk, long term, and strong policy and technical factors, therefore it is, in many cases, operated by the
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government or the government will entrust a commercial insurance company to administer it on its behalf. With the deepening of the reform and opening-up policy of China, the authority of conducting import and export trade was decentralized and there were a multiple of entities involved in this trade. However, one lurking problem was that the risks of exporting firms were not well hedged. To change this situation, PICC set up an export credit insurance department in 1988 with the approval of the People’s Bank of China and under the entrustment of the State Council. PICC underwrote the export credit insurance independently, though given the policy insurance nature of this business, on a non-profit basis. The major object covered by PICC under this type of insurance was short-term export credit insurance of mechanical and electronic products. The central government raised the reserve for export credit insurance from 400 million USD to 100,000 million USD in early 90’s. By this time, this insurance had also expanded to include long and medium term export credit insurance, and the scope of coverage also extended from mechanical and electronic products to large-sized set of equipment in other fields.
Personal Insurance Business
Personal insurance provides protection for life or body of the insured person against his or her longer-than expected survival, death, illness or disability. It falls into three major lines, namely, life insurance, personal accident insurance and health insurance. PICC started to revise its personal insurance policy provisions from 1981, the second year it resumed its domestic operation. It tried with industrial life insurance, group personal insurance, personal accident insurance and traveler’ accidental insurance the next year. The number of products in these lines increased to over 50 by 1989 and premium income from personal insurance reached 4.6 billion yuan, accounting for 32.3%
of the total premium volume of that year. The number of policyholders with PICC was about 182 million by 1989. The number of products of PICC further increased to over 70 in 1990 and along with the increasing variety of products, premium volume from personal insurance rose to 5.98 billion yuan, 40.1% of the total premium income of the company. And the number of policyholders also increased to about 219 million.
Reinsurance Business
Reinsurance business had always been operated by PICC in China, therefore there was no reinsurance company in China between 1949 and 1996. In its place, there was only the reinsurance department of PICC whose main function was to conduct reinsurance business with foreign direct insurance companies or reinsurance companies.
III. A Three-Pillar Stage
China had practiced reform and opening-up policy for 10 years by 1990. By that time, the economic strength of China had been greatly enhanced. Meanwhile, the restructuring of China’s financial services industry had also exhibited gratifying results. State-owned banks were being transformed into commercial banks and dozens of private commercial banks mushroomed in different parts of the country. At the same time, foreign banks had set their foot in economically developed cities in eastern China and Central-southern part of China. Several Chinese-foreign joint venture banks had started its operation. The first stock exchange in China since 1949 was running smoothly. All in all, a financial market in its true sense was taking its shape in China during this period. The restructuring of financial sector paralleled with the successful reform of its economic system as a whole. However, the restructuring of the insurance sector lagged far behind. Some
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leaders of the People’s Bank of China thought that the reform of China’s insurance’s industry was later than that of the banking industry by at least 10 years. From an international perspective, China’s reform and opening-up policy had not only boosted comprehensive strength of China but also attracted worldwide attention. Two direct results of these two achievements were that more foreign businesses approached their Chinese counterparts for trade opportunities and moreover, many of them were eager to play a role in the market of China. The interest of the international arena in China’s market had also put the Chinese government under strong pressures to open up its financial and insurance market to foreign access during its negotiation for resuming its rightful position in GATT.
The reform and opening-up of China’s insurance industry was a must from the stance of further development of its economy as a whole and also in face of the pressure within and without China. For this, the former regulator of the insurance industry in China, the People’s Bank of China, had already drawn up a blueprint for it – a sound orderly competitive market.
The three pillars in the so-called “three-pillar market” referred to PICC, China Pacific Insurance Company and China Ping An Insurance Company. All of these three companies were nationwide companies and coexisted in that same market from 1991 to 1996. But these were not the only three insurance companies in China by this time. Only that other insurance companies such as Xinjiang Corp, Ming An, Tian An, and even some foreign companies such as AIA and Tokyo Marine operated only in certain regions, therefore didn’t pose serious threat to the market share of the three of them.
China Pacific Insurance Company was
established on April 26, 1991. It is based in Shanghai and its predecessor is the insurance department of the Bank of Communications of China set up in 1987. Naturally, the Bank of Communications held a controlling interest in China Pacific. And in turn, China Pacific built up its business network rapidly on the basis of the existing network of the Bank of Communications and became a serious competitor of PICC all over China in a relatively short period of time. By the end of 1996, China Pacific had established nearly 60 branches, more than 100 sub-branches and 150 offices in China. It also set up subsidiaries in New York and Hong Kong. It engaged agents in over 100 overseas harbors of more than 100 countries and regions to conduct investigation, claim settlement and recouping of benefits paid for it and had established extensive ties with the insurance society outside of China. In the year 1996, China Pacific’s premium income was 8.76 billion yuan RMB.
China Pacific increased its stock capital up to one billion yuan RMB for the first time in 1994 and then in 1995. With 129 new shareholders joining in the company in 1995, the total number of institutional shareholders of China Pacific arrived at 287 and its total capital stock up to 2 billion yuan. The principles of the company was to be profit-oriented and different branches were to account for its profit or losses independently, shoulder risks on their own and conduct due self-discipline. As a matter of fact, it announced the profit-oriented and cost-control principle shortly after the founding of it, which was quite forward-looking when all others were emphasizing their contribution to the well-being of the society.
China Ping An Insurance Company was formed on June 4 in 1992. Its history could be traced to the earlier Ping An Insurance Company established on March 21 of 1988 in She Kou Industrial Zone of Shenzhen Special
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Economic Zone. At that time, it only operated in Shenzhen area. It was the first shareholding insurance company in China. On the day of June 4, 1992, Ping An Insurance Company was allowed to change its name to China Ping An Insurance Company by the People’s Bank of China. It became the first shareholding composite insurance company that operated in a national scope from that time. The company set a great store on its public reputation, efficiency, customer satisfaction and service quality and therefore raised these notions up as the goals of it. In the years of business development, it gradually formed an operational strategy that focused on the expansion of life insurance business with property insurance as its foundation, securities and trust businesses as its two wings and overseas business as a complementation. All in all, the company had maintained a brisk and sound growth all these years. By the end of 1996, it had altogether 48 institutional shareholders, among which two were American consortiums. It had set up 12 offices in different provinces and was running representative offices both in Singapore and London and Ping An Overseas Holding Company in Hong Kong.
The goals for Ping An in 1996 was to achieve the dual objectives of business growth and cost reduction through strengthening management and standardizing operation activities. The results were easy to see. The premium income increased to 10.5 billion yuan in that year compared with only 100 million yuan in 1991 and 1 billion yuan in 1993. That was to say that Ping An increased its business volume by more than 100 times in a short span of 5 years. This was nothing short of a miracle. It also earned 530 million yuan in profit in 1996 and its share of the market rose up to 14%. Its total assets also came up to 15 billion yuan and its total number of employees including agents increased to 50,000.
IV. The Emerging Insurance Market
A major event took place in 1996 in the insurance market of China. According to the provisions of “The Insurance Law of China”, insurance companies should underwrite either property insurance or life insurance but not both at the same time. This meant that PICC was to be restructured into a group company with three subsidiaries according to the instruction of the State Council. These three subsidiaries were later named PICC Property, PICC Life and PICC Re. They were all independent entities. This made the number of nationwide insurance companies in China up to five. Another important event this year was that three more nationwide insurance companies were in preparation at the beginning of the year. They were Hua Tai Property Insurance Co. Ltd., Tai Kang Life Insurance Company and New China Life Insurance Company. Hua Tai held its opening ceremony on August 29 of 1996. Tai Kang Life opened to public operation on August 22 of the same year and New China in September of the year. All three of them were headquartered at Beijing, and they were all nationwide shareholding insurance companies specializing either in life insurance business or property insurance business. Meanwhile, the People’s Bank of China also granted licenses to Yong An Property Insurance Company and Hua An Property Insurance Company, two property insurance companies, as their names indicated. They operated regionally. Yong An was headquartered in Xi’an and commenced to operate on September 28 of 1996, and Hua An, based in Shenzhen, started to write business on October 18 of 1996. You can see that at the end of 1996, there were 8 nationwide insurance companies and 13 regional companies (5 Chinese companies, 1 Chinese-foreign joint venture, and 7 branch companies of foreign insurers). By this time it was safe to assert that the insurance market of China had taken shape.
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This was one interlude that I deem it necessary to include here for the readers’ information. The regulator of insurance industry in China once approved the establishment of 15 life insurance companies with an aim to build up an insurance market in a short run, in particular to stimulate the development of life insurance industry, gravely undeveloped at the moment. These 15 life insurance companies were Dalian Shenyang, Xiamen, Zhuhai, Xiangtan, Benxi, Dandong, Tianjin, Ha’er Bin, Taiyuan, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Anshan, and Kunming Life Insurance Company. Unfortunately, these insurance companies didn’t go far for varying reasons. They were put under the umbrella of today’s China Life Insurance Company when PICC was restructured in 1996.
The increasing number of players on the insurance market, the separation of property and life insurance business and, in particular, the joining of shareholding insurance companies into their league, had not only enlivened the insurance market but also accelerated the development of this industry. The premium income of the whole industry in 1996 climbed up to 75.6 billion yuan against 61.5 billion in 1995 and 49.8 billion in 1994. Why was there such a marked growth in the insurance market? The answers lied in four facts. One was the sense of urgency for survival for each insurer in a market where competition was intensifying all the time. The second fact was that pent-up productivity was released when property and life insurance businesses were split. Thirdly, the introduction of individual agent system into China’s insurance market played a big role to the increase of business volume. Finally, last but not least, the macro-environment of China such as cut of deposit interest rate drove some astute investors to insurance companies.
Few people would dispute the idea that the
contribution of PICC to the establishment of the compensatory economic system in China was indelible. And equally indisputable, PICC did deserve the title of “China’s school for insurance industry” for its contribution to the education and cultivation of insurance professionals for China’s insurance industry. However, the shareholding insurance companies seemed better skilled at employing rules of commercial insurance mechanism to improve their performance and the sound development of the market as a whole.
V. Insurance Regulation and Insurance Legislation
The government regulated the insurance industry through a specialized insurance regulating agency under the guidance of various laws and regulations. The insurance regulating agency referred to the agency set up by the government with an aim to supervise all entities operating on the insurance market and regulate their business activities. Nearly all governments in the world administered stringent regulation on the insurance industry because of its special characteristics. Regulation of insurance industry in China had followed a gradually intensifying track. Since the domestic business was resumed in 1980, the People’s Bank of China had been the regulator for a quite long period of time. However, within the People’s Bank of China, the department that executed day-to-day regulatory work on insurance industry had shifted from the Insurance Cooperatives Supervision Division under the Department for Financial Industry Management to Insurance Division under the Non-Banking Financial Industry Management Department and then to Insurance Supervision Department, a new department formed on the basis of the Insurance Division. The change of the supervision body for insurance industry indicated that regulation and supervision on this industry became more and
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more important with more and more new entrants into this market and with the development of the industry itself. The government’s control and regulation of this industry would be weak and nominal without a strong and well-developed insurance supervision system. With the expansion of the insurance industry and the diversification of the market, the inadequacy of the government supervision on the insurance industry was shown more and more conspicuous. A new stage had come to replace the supervisory role of the Insurance Department of the People’s Bank of China with a specialized agency directly reporting to the State Council.
The supervisory responsibilities and scope of the People’s Bank of China to the insurance industry was to make proposition on policies and legislation about the insurance industry, license insurance companies, guide and supervise business activities of insurance companies, approve insurance polices and premium pricing, check financial reports and statements of insurance companies, and punish insurance companies that violated laws, regulations and policies, or undermined the interests of the insured person by either fines or suspension of business.
Insurance Law and Regulations in China Before the promulgation of “ the Insurance Law of the People’s Republic of China”, the governing laws and regulations for insurance supervision were “The Economic Contract Law of the People’s Republic of China” issued in March of 1981, “Property Insurance Contract Provisions of the People’s Republic of China” issued in September of 1983 by the State Council, “Provisional Rules on the Administration of Insurance Enterprises” issued in March 1985, provisions of the 12thth Chapter through to the 15 Chapter of “The Maritime Law of the People’s Republic of China” issued in November, 1992, “Provisional Rules on Insurance Regulation” issued by the
People’s Bank of China in July of 1996, and “Provisional Rules on Regulation of Foreign Insurance Companies in Shanghai” of November, 1992.
The People’s Bank of China formed a working team to draft the “Insurance Law of the PRC” in 1992 with personnel from the Bank itself, PICC, China Pacific, Ping An and other insurance experts and scholars. The drafting team was headed by Mr. Qin Daofu, president and chairman of PICC. The team’s work lasted for more than two years. They carried out a thorough and wide-ranging research on the insurance market of China, read widely and drew upon experiences of foreign countries on insurance legislation. The draft of “Insurance Law” that the team came up with was circulated to organizations in different field and to universities and colleges for comments. After being revised for several times, the draft was turned in by the People’s Bank of China to the competent government department for approval before it was submitted to the Legislation Committee of the People’s Congress for consideration. Finally, during the 40th Session of the 8th People’s Congress of the CPC on June30, 1995, “The Insurance Law of the People’s Republic of China” was voted in favor by the delegates, and was issued on the same day with the Chairman’s Decree No. 51. The new law took effect on October 1, 1995. There were altogether 152 provisions in the eight chapters of the Insurance Law.
VI. Education and Training in the Insurance Industry
Estimation of the Number of Specialized Talents in China
In response to the circular jointly issued by the Ministry of Education, the State Planning Commission and Labor Department in July, 1983 on surveying the number of specialized talents nationwide, PICC carried out a survey
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on enterprises’ demands for talented people. The result of the survey was that the number of employees in 1985 was 40,000, and this number was estimated to reach 70,000 in 1990 and 110,000 in 2000. The percentage of people with intermediary education to the total work force was estimated to be 40% in 1990 and 70% in 2000. Specialties with high demands would be 11 majors among which there were finance, accounting, English language and Statistics. The estimation also indicated that as a rapidly growing industry, the insurance sector would have a bad need for insurance students. At that time, there was only one college, the Central College of Finance, that offered international insurance major to students. Therefore, as the estimation concluded, there would be a large gap between demand and supply of insurance professionals. In order to narrow this gap, PICC suggested that the Ministry of Education should open up insurance department in higher education institutions so that they would supply students well-versed in insurance to insurance companies. PICC also determined to set up its own school with its surplus.
Cooperation with Universities and Colleges
In early 1980’s, there were only two educational institutes having insurance major. One was the Central Institute of Finance. It was the first to start up an insurance department in 1980 and it recruited 40 students every year. The second institute was the Graduate School of Finance of the People’s Bank of China. It enrolled 6 graduate students in 1982. In order to foster a sustainable development of China’s national insurance industry, PICC joined hands with Nan Kai University, Wu Han University, Liao Ning University and Sichuan College of Finance and Economy to educate professionals in insurance. According to the agreement that PICC signed with these universities, each of the
university was to enroll 30-40 students for the insurance major, therefore the total number of students in different grades in each college would be 120-160. Each of the university should also open a two-year course for the education of 30 cadres of the insurance company every year. To kick off this education initiative, PICC made a one-time investment into these four universities in the amount of 9.2 million RMB. In addition to that, PICC invested totally 1.6 million RMB into the Central TV Correspondence University, Central Institute of Finance, Shanghai Institute of Finance and Economy and Beijing Financial and Economic College later.
Envisaging that there would be a high demand for education in insurance, the Specialized School of Finance affiliated with the People’s Bank of China also opened an insurance course. To guarantee that the educational cooperation with universities and colleges proceeded smoothly, PICC took the initiative to train teachers and compile textbooks. The first comprehensive textbook on insurance, “Theories on Socialist Insurance”, was published in 1985. In 1987, the five textbook compiling teams organized by PICC came out with 5 textbooks for the correspondence course of the Central TV University. They were “General Theories on Insurance”, “ Property Insurance”, “Personal Insurance”, “Agricultural Insurance” and “Applying for Insurance”. Generous investment born ample fruits. By the end of 1996, 2600 students graduated from these cooperative universities and colleges after finishing their 4-year study there. There were also 900 students graduated from the two-year courses, 1600 completed their correspondence course with Central TV University, 480 insurance cadres finished their two-year course and 9200 vocational students graduated from the Banking School. Many of these early graduates have become key technical personnel in today’s
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insurance companies, and some of them have become middle-level or senior executives.
The insurance sector is becoming popular with job seekers in China. People can see that insurance companies like PICC, China Pacific and Ping An are flourishing and a new batch of Chinese companies and foreign companies have mushroomed. There is no doubt that demands for insurance professionals will grow for a long period of time to come. Anticipating this prospect, many other institutes of higher education have opened insurance course, among them there are Peking University, the People’s University, Fudan University and many other regional institutes of finance. By the end of 1996, there have been altogether over 40 institutes of higher education having insurance course.
Establishing Insurance Institute of its Own
PICC decided to set up its own adult education school so as to improve the quality of its work force quickly. After being approved by the Education Department of China, PICC founded China Insurance Cadres School in Changsha on September 8, 1986. This was the first higher education institution specialized in insurance education in China. There were Insurance Economy Department, Insurance Management Department, Insurance Information Department and other departments of basic subjects. With a total investment of 18 million RMB, the School covered an area of 133 mu and a floor space of 36,000 square meters. The school had nearly 100 teachers and there was a storage of 110.000 books in its library. All of the 1200 strong students came from PICC at different levels. Apart from training students who would receive formal junior college diploma on graduation, Shanghai Insurance School also provided short-term training for high and intermediary management personnel of PICC. 5000 people received training in the more than 90 short-term training
courses it held. This school was granted the honor of “Excellent Adult Education School” by the State Education Commission in April, 1992.
To provide talented people for its grass-level branches, PICC also set up several vocational schools in different part of China from 1986. They were Ha’er Bin Insurance School, Guangzhou Insurance School, Nanchang Insurance School and Chengdu Insurance School. These insurance schools were so located as to stay near to students and therefore they enrolled students from its surrounding regions respectively. PICC invested altogether 19 million RMB in these four vocational schools. Combined together, they covered a floor space of 190,000 square meters, possessed 110,000 books, and had a total enrollment of 1200 people. The 2800 students graduated from them were dispatched to local offices of PICC.
Job Training
Employees on each and every post should participate in training programs at different length regularly. From president of the company down to ordinary workers, nobody was an exception to this rule. Immediately after a new office was established, personnel training system would be considered at the same time with business development plan. Such a personnel training system included source of teaching staff, personnel to be trained, training classroom and training materials. This clearly demonstrated the guiding philosophy of PICC that people were the most valuable assets of the company and the most effective competition weapon. Late-comers such as China Pacific and Ping An also put personnel training on the front of their priority chart. They not only send a large number of people to be trained in foreign insurance companies or overseas training bases, but also make use of foreign brain powers such as CII of the U.K., CPCU and LOMA of the States.
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Looking retrospectively on the track of insurance education and training in China in these 17 years, you can see that there is now a multi-layered, multi-channel and highly diversified education network in place in China and because of this, the wholesome quality of personnel in the insurance field has been greatly enhanced. Let’s take PICC, the largest and longest-standing insurance company in China, as an example. In 1984, only 9.42% of all its cadres had diploma of 2-year college or above, 18.66% had vocational school certificate, and 71.92% of them had not attended senor high school. These three ratios changed to 22%, 28% and 50% respectively in 1989. Among the 11733 people joining PICC in 1994 and 1995, 47.5% of them had 2-year college or above education, 28.6% had vocational education and only 23.9% of them had senior high school or lower education.
VII. Insurance Intermediaries
Statistics showed that PICC had 115,000 agencies in 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities all over China and over 200,000 full-time or part-time agents in 1994. Ping An had 2700 agencies for property insurance and 7000 agents by September, 1995. What was worthwhile to mention was that AIA Shanghai Branch first introduced individual agent distribution system into China with a great success. There were only 300 individual agents in 1993. However, by the end of 1994, the number of individual agent shot up to more than 4000. The number of individual agent of Ping An itself jumped up to 12,000 by the end of 1995. Incomplete statistics indicated that there were altogether 300,000 individual agents in China’s insurance market by the end of 1995 and they acquired 40% of the new insurance business.
Insurance brokerage is another form of insurance intermediary. Brokers represent the
interest of policyholders. They sign the insurance contract with insurers on behalf of their clients and receive commissions from the insurer. Insurance brokerages, as a new trade, emerged with the advent of modern insurance business. The “Insurance Law” of 1995 passed an affirmative judgment on the role of brokerage to the development of the insurance industry. In 1993, there were three kinds of insurance brokerages in China’s insurance market: Chinese insurance brokerages originated from Shenzhen and operating mainly in major cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Haikou, Nanjing and Chengdu, foreign brokerages such as Sedgwich Risk Management Company in Beijing, and Hong Kong and Macao brokerages operating in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing, etc.. Notwithstanding the proliferation of insurance brokerages in young Chinese insurance market, there were many problems to be solved in the establishment, operation and development of insurance brokerages in China.
Public Insurance Adjustor (Notary) is an agency that conducts investigation, appraisal, evaluation or loss adjustment for an insurer or the Insured on a fee-for-service basis. Public insurance adjustor emerged as China’s insurance industry evolved to certain stage. The first public adjustor, Oriental Public Adjustor, was established in Shanghai on March 18, 1993. After that, North Public Adjustor of Tianjin, Shandong Public Adjustor, Nanjing Public Adjustor, Xiamen Public Adjustor, Shanghai Dayang Public Adjustor, etc. were formed in succession. Because the public adjustor followed the principle of “equity and fairness”, its appraisal was likely to be accepted by the insurer or the Insured. This provided the prerequisite condition for a claim to be settled immediately, accurately and equitably. The role of public adjustor will become even weightier with the development and growing sophistication of the insurance market.
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With competition grew more and more intense in the young insurance market of China, all insurance companies took measures to protect their own interest. Sorrowfully, some of them even resorted to improper measures such as underselling or raising commission level. Such short-sighted activities had not only undermined the solvency margin of the insurance company but also plunged the insurance market into chaos. Self-discipline of the insurance industry was put on the agenda against this background.
Self-discipline of the industry was expected to solve inter-company problems on the one hand, namely self-discipline, and on the other hand, to coordinate the relationship
between insurance companies, government regulator and other lines of business, namely, self-protection. The current self-disciplinary organization of the insurance industry in China is Insurance Association. Local insurance associations had been set up in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Dalian, Hainan, Jinan, Guangzhou, etc. by the end of 1995. Every insurance association is an independent legal entity with their own charter and deliberation rules. It can be safely asserted that self-regulating organizations of the insurance industry will go along with the development of the insurance market and will play a more significant role in a better-regulated market.