Ping An

Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. is a Chinese holding conglomerate whose subsidiaries mainly deal with insurance, banking, and financial services. The company was founded in 1988 and has its headquarters in Shenzhen. In 2018 Forbes rated the business the largest insurer in the world, with a valuation of $217bn.

Ping An is a world leading technology-powered financial services group. They currently serve 576 million online customers and 182 million retail customers across five ecosystems in financial services, healthcare, auto, real estate services and smart city solutions.

Ping An Insurance Group is the holding company of Ping An Life Insurance Company of China, Ltd. and Ping An Property & Casualty Insurance Company of China, Ltd. It also controls China Ping An Insurance Overseas Limited and Ping An Trust & Investment Co., Ltd. Ping An Insurance Overseas, located in Hong Kong, is a second holding company for subsidiary companies located outside of mainland China.

In 2017 Ping An ranked 1st among global insurance groups and joined top ten of global financial groups as its market cap rose above RMB1 trillion to new highs. Ping An ranked 1st by brand value among global insurers on multiple international rating lists. The company also ranked 39th in Fortune’s Global 500 and 16th in Forbes Global 2000, maintaining the 1st place among Chinese insurers.

Insurance business is one of the core businesses of the Group. After developing for many years, the Group has transitioned from a company with sole property & casualty business to a group which has gradually established a complete business system with four major subsidiaries: Ping An Life, Ping An Property & Casualty, Ping An Annuity and Ping An Health as its core business and providing clients with a full range of insurance products and services.

The company operates its banking business through Ping An Bank. Ping An Bank facilitated its transformation into retail banking. With continued innovation in products, organisations and services, it aims to forge a smart retail bank. Insisting on being asset-light and capital-light, Ping An Bank’s corporate business is developing the “commercial banking + investment banking” service model that is industry-oriented and professional with investment banking attributes.

Asset management business is also one of the core businesses of the Company. Ping An Trust, Ping An Securities, Ping An Asset Management, Ping An Overseas Holdings, Ping An Asset Management (Hong Kong), Ping An Fund and Ping An Financial Leasing form the asset management platform of the Company, providing customers with diversified investment products and services.

In recent years the company has looked beyond insurance services and has been expanding their expertise into fintech through the introduction of their technology arm, Ping An Technology, in 2008. Supported by the Group’s strong core financials, their continued investment in fintech and healthtech resulted in increasing revenue contributions from their tech units as well as several unicorns. In 2019 Ping An's OneConnect - its fintech unit - was reported to be considering applying for a digital banking license in Singapore.

In 2018, partnered with connected healthcare and intelligent data company, HiNounou, and AXA Partners to launch China's first dedicated Seniors insurance as a service.

Ping An has early-mover advantage in mobile apps and underlying technologies from artificial intelligence and blockchain. Spreading across Ping An's vast territory in finance, encompassing insurance, banking and asset management, are ten startups it has spawned in the last six years. In 2019, Ping An announced it was to switch up its strategy to include technology and Fintech. Also in 2019, Ping An's P&C branch announced the launch of a credit-based smart auto claim solution that makes it easier for car owners to make claims and encourage good driving behaviour.

In January 2020 Ping An Technology partnered with Intel, announcing plans to launch a joint laboratory, co-operate on products and technology, and form a joint project team focused on high-performance computing (AI, security, cloud, network and storage). 

Also in 2020,  a consortium of Chinese insurers, including Ping An and PICC, launched a product to cover losses incurred as a result of the COVID-19 (also known as the Coronavirus) outbreak. Offering cover for a period 6 months, the product is heavily subsidised by the Hainan government and will provide cover for production losses and paying quarantined employees amongst other risks.