Shanghai and many cities in China have been facing a new covid outbreak from March. Under this backdrop, state media Xinhua News talked to several foreign financial institutions including AXA Tianping on how we join efforts to protect employees and broader communities amid the challenging times. As shared in the interview, we remain optimistic despite the difficult conditions. Please find more details in the article:
In early March, I was also invited by the business media National Business Daily during the Two Sessions together with business leaders across all industries, to exchange views on future opportunities around innovation, decarbonization and green transformation.
As China implements the “dual carbon” national goal of reaching peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, I thereby call for collective efforts from insurers with all industries to achieve sustainable development. Besides the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance, climate index insurance and 2023 green investment goal, AXA will soon run its serial climate campaign in China to showcase our determination in fighting climate change. Stay tuned!
International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The global theme this year, #BreaktheBias, aims to create a gender equal world and forge women’s equality.
This year, we joined AXA Asia & Africa and launched the #breakthebias social challenge to celebrate the day. Our management team and some of our colleagues published their commitment on social media in support of AXA’s commitment to embracing equity and inclusion.
With concerted efforts, we can all help AXA creating an inclusive work environment and championing gender parity in broader society, essential to our sustainable development in keeping with our key ESG strategies.
This year’s 3·15 Consumer Rights Week centers around the theme of “Promoting Fair Consumption and Digital Finance”. Led by the Customer Service team, we have launched the 315 campaigns across headquarters and branches from March14 to March20 on various online and offline channels.
Our branches promoted lively educational content through digital mediums such as Weibo posts, infographics and animations to expand coverage of the campaign, with the aim to guide consumers in choosing suitable insurance products, and to raise awareness of financial risk prevention. The branches have also posted posters, distributed brochures, and played event posters and videos on in-store screens to disseminate financial knowledge and to enhance the financial literacy of the general public, by improving public awareness and ability to identify and prevent involvement with illegal financial products and activities.
Taking Dalian branch as an example. The branch created a campaign working group in the first place and deployed execution plans for its sub-branch network. They held a special morning meeting on March 11th to make sure our staff are fully aware of regulatory requirements. Our Dalian colleagues were particularly attentive to the needs of the elderly and vulnerable groups, providing them one-on-one service and close online guidance.
While providing consumers with good products and service guarantees, we continuously enhance financial self-protection and risk prevention capabilities of consumers and will continue to do so through publishing consumer insights, educating consumers, optimizing consumer services, helping the elderly and vulnerable groups to cross the digital divide and improving the efficiency of the compensation process, bringing peace-of-mind and warmth to our customers.
（供中国大陆区以外同事观看,For AXA colleagues outside mainland China)
To celebrate the March 8th International Women’s Day with our customers, the product promotion campaign #BloomWithConfidence was rolled out with a social component to encourage women to share their opinion on the sense of women security.
Three medical and accident insurance products are promoted in this campaign:
Signature Inpatient & Outpatient Medical Insurance breaks away from the traditional classification of high-end medical products and institutions and provides differentiated premium pricing.
METOO Individual Accident Insurance covers travel accidents and income loss for women.
Comprehensive Inpatient & Outpatient Medical Insurance (2021) provides unlimited advance payment for hospitalization and flexible budgets.
In the meantime, we’ve also run a social campaign centering the demands in sense of security women of different ages through thematic video and social contents. They were well received and sparked discussions about women’s sense of security on social media.
Motor insurance is the backbone of AXA’s 3.0, which centers around “diversified products, quality control, and sustainable development”. Accounting for the highest percentage of its business, the motor insurance business is crucial to the company’s standing out from its peers and its transformation towards AXA 3.0. On this note, Scott Yin, Chief Pricing Officer & Chief Actuary, shares his vision for the development of our auto insurance business.
The 1+2 Development Model
The motor insurance business will enter a new healthy and sustainable development phase in the 3.0 era. Its development model can be summarized as “1+2”, with 1 representing the top priority of cost optimization, and 2 referring to two key projects—the clientele upgrade project and the new energy vehicle (NEV) insurance project.
2021 was the first year to see motor insurance reforms, which have significantly impacted the entire industry: premiums declined, the combined ratio exceeded 100%, competition intensified, and several small and medium-sized companies gradually scaled down their businesses. Since the motor deregulation, AXA Tianping withstood the pressure from decreased premiums and expanded coverage to continuously navigate the negative impact and ultimately optimize its policy quality. In the 3.0 era, we will continue to optimize policy quality, strengthen the connection between the front and back offices, and strive to achieve the company’s cost KPIs.
On the other hand, the motor insurance development strategy needs to balance short-term and mid-to-long-term needs. We need to allow for effective cost control. We also need to improve various areas such as channel expansion, price management, claims management, product portfolio design, and investing in a more sustainable customer base. Upgrading the customer base means enhancing customer value and leveraging our current resources and experience to increase cross-selling, and lay the foundation for the company’s healthy future growth.
Although uncertainties remain on profitability and fierce competition in the coming year, we must stabilize our motor insurance scale and cement a concrete foundation for our business. With China’s new vehicle penetration rate of new energy vehicles reaching 20% in September last year, we are poised to enter this segment and grasp the growth opportunity.
A Strong Start in 2022
In Q1 2022, our motor insurance business achieved a strong start in terms of sales performance and cost control. We recorded a 9.5% increase in written premiums, which was the highest Q1 growth rate in recent years. At the same time, policy and finance costs were further optimized. Compared to last year, the total annual policy cost was optimized by 3.3% and the total annual financial cost ratio was optimized by 1.2%. Jiangsu (Region A), Shanghai (Region B), and Shandong (Region C) were leading in their respective region in motor insurance cost control and sales performance.
As 2022 marks the second full year under the reform, industry trends are expected to be clearer. Here are our observations:
1. Overall market looks promising and the competition is becoming more rational. The cost pressure will be more significant this year, as the financial indicator pressure gradually appears from declining post-reform premiums. On the other hand, claims standards are set to increase year by year. Therefore, leading companies will be more rational with their competitive strategies, which will help improve the market environment overall; smaller companies will also be forced to consciously implement aggressive strategies given greater cost pressures.
2. The rapid development of the NEV market will become a new growth engine, but it will also increase cost pressure, and as such, the market is expected to maintain a wait-and-see attitude.
3. There are still many uncertainties that will affect the business environment and development plan, for example, natural disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic, etc.
2022 will also be the year of launching NEV products, and the aforementioned trends also offer the following insights on motor insurance:
1. In a relatively rational market environment, we can build solid foundation, cultivate our existing customer base, and enhance customer value.
2. We have the chance to improve our capabilities internally and develop comprehensive offerings to help with emerging businesses, such as the necessary capabilities for the NEV business.
3. We will be more flexible with our strategy and plans amid uncertainties, while continuously improving and standardizing internal management capabilities. Our goal is to curate the right auto insurance pricing and management model for the Chinese market, which both meets the Group’s management requirements and reflects AXA Tianping’s unique positioning.
New Energy Vehicle Insurance—Faster and Steadier
Globally, sustainability has become a crucial topic. Energy and digital transformation are ushering the automotive industry into the new energy era. In China, these monumental changes present unprecedented opportunities. China’s national strategies have also offered full support to turbocharge the explosive growth. In 2021, China’s ownership of NEV reached 7.84 million, up 59.3% YoY, accounting for around half of global units. According to the Development Plan for the New Energy Vehicle Industry (2021-2035)released by the General Office of the State Council, the share of NEV sales is expected to reach about 20% by 2025. With the green economic policy support, improving technology and infrastructure, further decline in manufacturing costs, and rising consumer demands, NEV ownership is set to continue to grow as the transformation accelerates.
Technology development continues to drive the insurance industry’s evolution. On December 14, the Insurance Association of China released the Exclusive Terms and Conditions for New Energy Vehicle Commercial Insurance (Trial), the long-awaited NEV insurance plan for millions of NEV owners. At AXA Tianping, we have been following the development of new energy vehicles and their related technologies, and we have been studying and exploring how we can better provide customized coverage services for new energy vehicles. In the past few years, AXA Tianping has cooperated with numerous NEV companies. We have fully utilized their resource and technological advantages to explore the construction and improvement of the NEV service ecology.
At the first AXA Tianping Asia-Africa staff meeting recently, CEO of Greater China Sally introduced the New Energy Vehicle Project Team (NEV Project), which shows the all-around importance of this project. It is not only the main growth engine but also represents the future of the business and carries AXA’s vision to excel in the motor insurance industry.
With an extensive regional network and a long history of exploring and accumulating cutting-edge technologies, AXA Tianping is uniquely positioned to capture growth with the support of global resources and pioneering technologies. With the support of AXA Labs and GI Hub, the AXA Tianping NEV Project Team was established to identify strategic business objectives, while developing our capabilities for future development. To coordinate with the multiple departments involved and to ensure everything is progressing smoothly, the project was divided into multiple workflows, including Strategy, Partners, Channels, Underwriting and Pricing, Claims, and Products, among others. All of which were given clear objectives and implementation initiatives.
Through this period of hard work, the project team has been able to obtain valuable industry data, first-hand information, and feedback from the front-line staff. We now have an increasingly clear understanding of market patterns, trends, company capabilities, and key imperatives in the NEV business. At the same time, the team is aware that the project still falls in a relatively high-cost range. Therefore, how we balance cost control and development opportunities is a topic that must be meticulously addressed. The team is cautiously optimistic as it strives to curate a solid business development plan. ——“For NEV business, we must be the first-mover, but also act more consciously and steadily than others,” Scott summarized.
This year, we will officially activate ESG implementation, which is one of the priorities on the company’s agenda. Referring to Environmental factors, Social factors and Governance when measuring the sustainability and ethical impact of a business and a company, ESG has become THE ‘It Word” worldwide. From a narrow perspective, ESG focuses mainly on non-financial performance without excessively incorporating traditional financial indicators; but in a broader sense, ESG involves every touchpoint of the company’s business operation and development.
We have witnessed national’s unprecedented and unwavering efforts in reaching duo-carbon target recently. It is my belief that by working with the community and the industry, we definitely can make our share of contribution. As a global leading insurer, AXA Group has led by example and established “Net-Zero Insurance Alliance” with 8 leading insurers and reinsurers last year, while announcing publicly 7 commitments below:
#1 Reduce the carbon footprint of our portfolio
#2 Increase our green investment to reach 25 billion euros by 2023
#3 Address client concerns and steer underwriting efforts towards sustainable business models
#4 Become carbon neutral in 2050
#5 Training on climate change for all our employees and tied agents
#6 Develop products providing insurance benefits to vulnerable populations with an inclusive target
#7 Track our overall responsibilities and ESG performance
Actually, we have already realized some of our early practices of ESG strategy long before the ESG implementation in our company, expressed through the activation of our brand purpose “Act for Human Progress by Protecting What Matters”, reflected through our philanthropic efforts with Aiyou Foundation and our pioneering use of “Insurtech + Scenario” to address climate change, launching a series of climate index insurance products in Guangzhou as some early practices of ESG strategy. To better promote Group’s ESG call for action this year, we aim to address our impact on the environment and society and commit to a comprehensive ESG implementation for a safe, ethical and sustainable manner along the value chain, and strive to operate in a sustainable and transparent way together with our stakeholders, suppliers, partners, government, social institutions, customers, employees, taking environmental interests and other related core demands into consideration. This is how we act for human’s progress, and how we protect what really matters in the duo-carbon era.
In the AXA Star contest, altogether 22 AXA colleagues from headquarter and branches are entitled to awards of AXA Stars in Transformation, Customer First, Integrity, Courage and One AXA. This special column was set up for them so we can all know their stories in living the AXA values and making their contribution in the company growth.
This month we will start from the Transformation Star – Zhang Xiaohuan from Beijing Branch and the Integrity Star – Xia Jianfei from Shanghai Operation Center.
Transformation Star – Xiaohuan’s Story:
With over 17 years’ industry experience, Xiaohuan held several roles with leading companies such as Ping An Health Beijing Branch and Mingya Brokerage before she joined AXA Tianping Beijing Branch on June 16 in 2020 and took care of the branch’s non-motor business.
From 2020 to 2021, Beijing Branch’s health insurance GWP and new distribution partners have reached geometric growth, while the branch also took the initiative in the local inclusive insurance public private project – Beijing Jinghuibao in 2020. The team then explored further opportunities from the project, launching the Malignant Tumor Medical Insurance for Women (HuiTaBao) in May 2021 and Beijing Jinghuibao 2021 version. This initiative is of far-reaching importance to the company’s brand building, health transformation, and nationwide distribution transition.
Q&A with Xiaohuan：
Q: How do you feel on winning the AXA Star award？
Xiaohuan: I am very honored and pleased to be awarded the AXA Star. I would like to express my gratitude to my team for their help! This is a huge encouragement and motivation to me. This year, I hope we will strive to bring the branch growth to the next level, to become stronger, and to have more AXA Stars within the branch!
Q: Do you have good habits to help you stay healthy？
Xiaohuan: My tip is to have enough sleep and regular exercise.
Q: Any books or TV series you would like to share？
Xiaohuan: I’m reading a Chinese novel called Distant Savior. The TV series based on the book are also worthy watching.
Integrity Star – Jianfei’s Story:
Graduated from Heilongjiang Police College, Xia Jianfei started his career in insurance since 2006 accumulating abundant experience in motor insurance claim survey and loss assessment, fraud investigation, motor insurance anti-fraud and non-motor insurance loss adjustment. He joined AXA Tianping’s motor insurance resurvey team since 2012 and now leads the anti-fraud team of 93 people from 28 branches and sub-branches. In the company’s anti-fraud campaign in 2021, the team successfully pursued 168,000 yuan Insurance recoveries.
The character “Jian”(literally meaning Sword in English) in Jianfei’s name also reflects his merit of integrity, resilience swiftness.
Q&A with Jianfei：
Q: How do you feel on winning the AXA Star award？
Jianfei: I would like to use three words to convey my feelings: Gratitude, Pride and Action. Huge thanks to my team for the support, trust, and encouragement. People often say that a seed can only have infinite vitality if it is deeply planted in a fertile soil. The same is true for me. AXA is the soil that helps to me grow and makes me feel proud. All my gratitude will turn into action to strive for the better.
Q: Do you have good habits to help you stay healthy？
Jianfei: In daily life, I’m usually a bit quiet. I like to assemble furniture by hand to make myself feel peaceful. Like life itself, there may be twists and turns and bumps in the process, but they are all formed by experience again and again. When all the ups and downs become experiences, we can get closer to our goal.
Q: Any books or TV series you would like to share？
Jianfei: I would recommend the drama based on the Chinese novelist Liang Xiaosheng’s novel “The World”. The story takes the life trajectory of several commoners as a clue and shows the development and changes of Chinese society in the past 50 years. Throughout it, there are not only the “glory and dream” of Chinese society development, but also the difficulties and complexities of the reform and opening up process.
Q: Any photos you would like to share with us？
Jianfei: All honors belong to the team. Thanks to my team!
We have gained the “Employer of the Year 2021” Award by Zhaopin.com, a leading recruitment platform in China. Our efforts in building the employer reputation, corporate culture, organizational management, career development, compensation & benefits, are being recognized by our employees. Winning the accolade also reflects our achievement in employer branding, and wouldn’t be possible without all AXA people living by the company values.
The first AXA Asia & Africa virtual Townhall was successfully held on February 28. More than 20000 colleagues across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa gathered together for this Special Townhall. The event provided a unique opportunity for Gordon and other leaders to showcase the strength of our region as we come together virtually for the very first time.
In the opening speech, Gordon Watson, CEO of AXA Asia & Africa, reviewed the business results and highlights in 2021. In Asia, annual Premium Equivalent and New Business Value both recorded strong increases of 32% and 20% to €1.7 billion and €1.1 billion respectively. Gross revenues were up a solid 8% year-on-year to €11.3 billion due to growth of new business in the region, driven by our focus on customer needs. Our African entities also achieved very strong growth across all business lines including the expansion of our integrated health offer, OneHealth by AXA.
Next, Sally WAN, CEO of the Greater China introduced the business development in Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and Macau. As the second largest insurance market of the world with 1.4 billion population, AXA has a clear development strategy and constant ambition. Through six core strategies, she described the future development direction of AXA GC – Maximize AXA Market Share, Deliver Exceptional Customer Experience, Diversify and Grow Revenues, Execute a company-wide Digital & Data Strategy, Maintain strong Financial Discipline, Accelerate Transformation. Those include plenty of thrilling projects such as GBA collaboration, product development and reinsurance resource sharing, EMMA By AXA and New Energy Vehicle, making 2022 a year of momentum and prosperity.
In the Q&A session, the question from AXATP about the AXA Asian & Africa sustainability strategy was the first to be picked and answered by Gordon. Gordon explained the four core strategies in Responsible savings, social strategy, biodiversity, sustainable business model, which gave a clear direction for our ESG initiatives soon to take place this year.
安盛集团于2022年2月24日发布了2021年度业绩，在疫情持续影响下，集团整体表现依然强劲。安盛集团CEO Thomas Buberl表示，“2021年安盛业绩在各个方面均表现卓越，得益于集团近几年开展的重大改革和简化战略。在正确的策略引导下，全体安盛人、经纪伙伴、合作伙伴并肩而行，赢得客户一如既往的信任，我为我们在疫情之下取得这样的成绩感到自豪。”
（供中国大陆区以外同事观看,For AXA colleagues outside mainland China)
AXA Group has released Full Year 2021 Earnings on February 24th.Though the effects of the pandemic are still ongoing, we were able to deliver excellent full-year results for 2021. As AXA Group CEO Thomas Buberl said, “AXA delivered an excellent performance in 2021 on all fronts. We have significantly transformed and simplified the Group in recent years and this strategy is producing strong results, with revenues and earnings increasing across all lines of business.”
“I’m proud of the Group’s performance in 2021 and through the Covid-19 crisis, reflecting the relevance of our strategy, the strong engagement of our people, agents and partners and the continued trust of our clients.”
Please take a close look at the results in below poster:
