Universal insurance encounters "cold spring" Author: Ding Bing Release time: 2009-03-280 1:09 Source: Some companies in china securities journal and China Securities Network want to stop selling, and Ping An's high settlement interest rate has also begun to be lowered, so universal insurance is experiencing "cold spring". The insiders believe that after the investment-linked insurance, universal insurance is once again given a cold shoulder, which is closely related to the poor investment income of insurance funds. Affected by this, the growth rate of premium income will slow down this year. Universal insurance was left out in the cold, and the settlement interest rate of universal insurance was maintained at 5.25%, the highest settlement interest rate in the industry for four months. China Ping An finally began to lower its interest rate. In February, the annualized settlement interest rate of Ping An Personal Universal Insurance was lowered from 5.25% to 5%, and the annualized settlement interest rate of bancassurance Universal Insurance was lowered from 5.25% to 4.7%, but it was still the highest among the companies. In fact, since September last year, more than 20 insurance companies have successively lowered the settlement interest rate of universal insurance products. Only China Ping An has maintained 5.25% since June 65438+ 10, 2008, which is about 1% higher than Taikang Life Insurance, PICC Life Insurance, Taiping Insurance, China Life Insurance, Pacific Insurance and Xinhua, and it is at the leading level in the industry. But the current downward adjustment may mean that the winter of universal insurance has just arrived. Lowering the settlement interest rate of universal insurance has become a constant choice for various insurance companies. Following the continuous reduction of the universal insurance settlement interest rate in 2008, China Life continued to reduce the universal insurance settlement interest rate by 0.2% in June 5438+ 10 this year, and it has remained at 3.85% at present. The settlement interest rate of Li Jinfeng series universal insurance of China Pacific Insurance was also lowered to 3.85%. According to incomplete statistics, the universal insurance interest rate of most insurance companies is around 4%. The greater blow to universal insurance is that some insurance companies have decided to stop selling this product. Caizhi Life A/B, the universal insurance product of Huatai Life Insurance, will be officially discontinued from March 25th. Taikang Life Insurance decided to stop selling its universal insurance product-Taikang Excellent Fortune 2007 whole life insurance (universal) from April 1 day. Between premium income and profit, Taikang chose the latter. It is understood that Taikang Fortune 2007 whole life insurance is a popular product in the market because of its high settlement interest rate. Before August last year, this product was stationed at a high settlement rate of 5.8% for several months. Due to the interest rate cut and poor investment environment, the settlement interest rate of this product was lowered to 4.35% last month, but it is still at a high level in the industry. Relevant persons of Taikang Life Insurance said that Taikang's decision to stop selling universal insurance products was based on the long-term consideration of the company's business transformation. Wu Dingfu, chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, also made a request during his recent inspection of Taikang Life Insurance Company to grasp the main business direction and vigorously develop guarantee insurance. Taikang life insurance explained the suspension of universal insurance. "At present, the benchmark interest rate for one-year deposits has dropped to 2.25%, which is lower than the predetermined interest rate ceiling of 2.5% for universal insurance policies. Moreover, if interest rates are further cut in the future, once the bond market interest rate approaches 2.5%, new interest spread loss risks will breed again. " Under the pressure of spread loss, Taikang Life made a choice. If the interest rate is not cut, the situation of universal insurance will not be greatly improved. Zhou Guang, a researcher at CICC, said that with the gradual elimination of interest rate cut expectations, there is limited room for the universal insurance settlement interest rate to fall. But at the same time, the investment income of both bonds and stocks has not been greatly improved. When the cost is high, the more products you sell, the more you may lose. It can be said that the high cost of universal insurance and the shrinking investment income of insurance companies are the key reasons for forcing various insurance companies to continuously reduce the settlement interest rate of universal insurance. Chen Dongsheng, Chairman and CEO of Taikang Life Insurance Co., Ltd. said that in 2007, the investment income of the entire insurance industry in China was about 270 billion, and by 2008, the whole investment income had shrunk by nearly 75%, leaving only a quarter of the income. In addition, due to the flexibility of universal insurance and the low cost of surrender, the insured can withdraw cash at any time and adjust the premium amount of each period at any time, making the policy risk cost of universal insurance much higher than dividend insurance and traditional life insurance; The premium income of universal insurance is mainly invested in bonds, funds and deposits. Due to the recent downward adjustment of bond interest rates, the expected investment income of several major insurance companies is only about 4%, and the narrowing of spreads makes it impossible for insurance companies to continue to support high-level settlement interest rates. At the same time, public data show that the smooth reserve withdrawal rate of some insurance companies has been at a low level of 30% to 40% since last year, and the smooth reserve accumulated in the bull market has been released. At present, the stable reserves of insurance companies greatly reduce their support for universal insurance, so it is an inevitable choice to reduce the settlement interest rate of universal insurance. Some insurance analysts predict that the universal insurance settlement interest rate of insurance companies will be generally lowered this year, and the average settlement interest rate may fall back to about 3%, which is about 1% lower than the current average level. The reduction of universal insurance interest rate will further slow down the business growth of insurance companies that support sales with high settlement interest rates. Can premiums continue after a good start? According to the data released by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, the premium income of life insurance companies in the first two months was about163.96 billion, a year-on-year increase of 13.7%. Among them, China's three life insurance giants, China Life Insurance, Taibao Life Insurance and Ping An Life Insurance Company of China, still have bright transcripts, and their accumulated premium income is about 654.38+0076 billion yuan, up 654.38+04% year-on-year. It is worth mentioning to check the original post >>