① The General Financial Supervisory Authority revealed that in the first half of the year, there were a net increase of 757 insurance branches, and the rate at which insurers abolished their outlets slowed down year-on-year. ② The newly established outlets mainly come from Shenneng Financial Insurance, which has just opened; after removal, insurance agency outlets continued to shrink. ③ The branch office that was abolished was mainly the marketing service department. Taibao Life Insurance and Ping An Life were the most aggressive in abolition.
Financial Services Association, July 1 (Reporter Zou Juntao) According to the latest data, the pace of abolition of insurance branches slowed down in the first half of the year.
On July 1, a Financial Services Association reporter checked the website of the State Financial Supervisory Authority and learned that as of July 1, a total of 848 insurance branches withdrew from the market in the first half of this year. Compared to the same period last year, there were 192 fewer layoffs.
At the same time, 1,605 new insurance branches were approved (based on the date of issuance), a net increase of 757.
However, the Financial Services Association reporter noticed that the new outlets added this year are mainly from Shenneng Financial Insurance, which has just been approved to open, and one of them has set up more than 1,200 new branches. After excluding Shenneng's financial insurance factors, the scale of personal insurance and industrial insurance outlets continued to shrink in the first half of this year. Among them, the contraction of personal insurance was even more obvious.
From the perspective of the industry, for insurance companies, in the context of the rapid development of mobile internet, choosing to concentrate their business in specific regions while withdrawing some branches from other regions is a reasonable business strategy.
The insurance industry eliminated 848 outlets in the first half of the year, 192 fewer than last year
According to the latest data, as of the first half of this year, a total of 520 personal insurance branches and 328 industrial insurance branches in the insurance industry have withdrawn from the market, for a total of 848. However, compared with the same period last year, the total number of branch cancellations across the industry decreased by 192 in the first half of this year, a year-on-year decrease of 18.46%.
Furthermore, whether it is a personal insurance company or an industrial insurance company, the pace of abolishing outlets has slowed down this year. According to regulatory disclosure data, in the first half of 2023, a total of 1,040 insurance branches in the insurance industry withdrew, including 649 personal insurance branches and 391 industrial insurance branches. Comparatively, in the first half of this year, the number of personal insurance branches abolished decreased by 129, a year-on-year decrease of 19.88%, and the number of industrial insurance branches abolished by 63, a year-on-year decrease of 16.11%.
However, compared to the speed at which new branches were built during the same period, the scale of outlets in the insurance industry continued to shrink in the first half of the year. According to data from the State Financial Supervisory Administration, in the first half of this year, the number of insurance institution outlets that obtained regulatory certificates was 1,605, of which a total of 1,263 Shenneng Financial Insurance and branches accounted for the majority.
According to information, in September 2023, the State Financial Supervisory Administration agreed with eight state-owned institutions, including Shenneng Investment and Shanghai International Group, to jointly initiate preparations to establish Shenneng Property Insurance Co., Ltd. (“Shenneng Financial Insurance”). In mid-January of this year, after Shenneng Financial Insurance completed the industrial and commercial registration process, its subsidiaries at various levels successively obtained licenses from the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration and dispatched agencies.
A Financial Services Association reporter noticed that excluding Shenneng Financial Insurance, in the first half of this year, the insurance industry was approved to establish 342 new branch offices, of which only 36 were approved for new personal insurance branches. Compared with the scale of withdrawal during the same period, it is still in a “net decline.”
The marketing service department was the main force that was abolished, and Taibao and Ping An were the most aggressive in abolition
Furthermore, the type of branch that was abolished was mainly the marketing service department. According to the data, of the 848 insurance branches that withdrew from the market in the first half of the year, 525 were marketing service departments, accounting for more than 60%.
Among them, Taibao Life Insurance and Ping An Life are the ones with the most aggressive abolition. According to the data, in the first half of this year, Taibao Life Insurance and Ping An Life abolished 73 and 63 marketing service departments respectively. In addition to other types of outlets, Ping An Life Insurance and China Life Insurance each abolished a total of 141 branches and 83 branches in the first half of this year. In addition, China Life Insurance and Taikang Life followed suit, abolishing 59 and 57 marketing service departments, respectively.
According to information, insurance companies can generally be divided into four levels. The head office is a first-level agency, a second-level agency is a provincial branch, a third-level agency is generally a central branch, and a four-level organization includes a branch office, marketing service department, or business department. The marketing service department has always been one of the terminals for insurance companies to get in touch with consumers, and is the basic network for customer service.
In recent years, with the spread of internet finance and the deepening of the “clean” reform of agent channels, some business sales models of large and medium-sized insurance companies have begun to shift from offline to online, and it has become an industry trend for insurers to abolish unprofitable terminal outlets.
Senior actuary Xu Yuchen said that if insurance companies target high-end customers in Tier 1 and 2 cities, they may merge or abolish branches in the future, and if they choose to take root in cities and counties, they may even strengthen their layout in the future.
According to public reports, in 2021 and 2022, personal insurance companies abolished 1,382 branches and 1,701 branches, respectively. After deducting newly established institutions, there was a net decrease of more than 2,500 in two years. Among them, the main force that was abolished was the Marketing Services Department.