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following the complete suspension of sales of traditional life insurance with a 3.0% interest rate, the "2.5% + floating income" participating insurance will also be "out of print". according to regulatory requirements, starting from october 1, the upper limit of the scheduled interest rate for newly registered participating insurance products will be adjusted to 2.0%, which means that the current participating insurance with an interest rate higher than 2.0% will be discontinued at the end of september.

before large-scale suspension of sales of insurance products, the hot sales of old products is a common scene in the industry. however, judging from the current sales situation, the market enthusiasm for dividend insurance in september is not high, and front-line marketing personnel directly say that dividend insurance is difficult to sell. at present, the layout of dividend insurance by leading insurance companies is already undercurrent. can dividend insurance really return to the "c position" as the market expects?

difficult to promote

according to the requirements of the financial supervision administration, the upper limit of the interest rate for newly registered participating insurance products is 2.0% from october 1. currently, participating insurance products with an interest rate higher than 2.0% are gradually withdrawing from the market.

generally speaking, during this special period of switching between old and new products, insurance agents usually seize the opportunity to increase sales efforts and make the final "sprint". however, beijing business daily reporters observed that the market's enthusiasm for the "speculation and suspension of sales" of dividend insurance was not high in september. unlike the news and posters of the suspension of sales of incremental whole life insurance in august, agents frequently received good news. in september, only a few insurance sales staff shared the news of the suspension of sales of dividend insurance in their wechat moments.

"'speculation on suspension of sales' really can't be continued!" wang ming (pseudonym), a salesperson at a leading insurance intermediary agency, told reporters that the current sales performance of dividend insurance is obviously weak, and customers are still more likely to accept increasing term life insurance.

wang ming said that since august, more than a dozen insurance companies have come to his workplace to conduct training on dividend insurance, but different insurance companies have huge differences in asset allocation and investment return levels. even professionals find it difficult to fully understand them, and it is even more difficult to make consumers understand dividend insurance.

"there are many reasons for the poor sales of dividend insurance." chinese actuary hu ningning analyzed to the beijing business daily reporter that in terms of product form, dividend insurance is complex and the investment returns are uncertain. in terms of product returns, dividend insurance is good at long-term returns, and the early returns are not as good as increasing whole life insurance. in the current investment environment, the dividend realization rate will still face challenges. in terms of sales ability, dividend insurance requires higher skills from sales personnel. some newcomers in the industry have not been exposed to and are unwilling to learn dividend insurance.

song zhanjun, deputy secretary-general of the china insurance research institute of beijing university of technology, added that it is difficult to promote dividend insurance. first, a large number of 3.0% guaranteed interest rate increasing whole life insurance policies were taken off the shelves in the early stage, and a large number of consumers had already purchased them, and the total demand has dropped significantly; second, the long-term floating returns of dividend insurance are uncertain, which is in conflict with the consumer certainty preference that has been clearly shaped by the increasing whole life insurance returns in recent years.

increased attention on the supply side

against the backdrop of a reduction in the expected interest rates for life insurance, dividend insurance is seen as one of the most promising types of insurance.

the reason why participating insurance is regarded as a new main product is mainly due to its design principle of "guaranteed + floating income". the income of participating insurance consists of two parts: guaranteed interest rate and non-guaranteed interest rate. the non-guaranteed interest rate part, namely the dividend part, depends on the operating conditions of the insurance company's participating product account.

since the beginning of this year, policies have continuously encouraged insurance companies to develop dividend insurance products. on august 2, the financial regulatory administration issued a notice to all life insurance companies on improving the pricing mechanism of life insurance products, which mentioned that it encourages the development of long-term dividend insurance products. for dividend insurance products with a predetermined interest rate not higher than the upper limit, the cash value can be calculated according to the actuarial regulations of ordinary insurance products. on september 11, the state council issued the "several opinions on strengthening supervision, preventing risks and promoting high-quality development of the insurance industry", which also mentioned "supporting the development of floating income insurance", and floating income insurance includes dividend insurance.

it can also be seen from the statements of various listed insurance companies that many insurance companies will focus on dividend insurance products in the future. executives of many listed insurance companies have made it clear that dividend insurance products will occupy "half of the market" in the future. guo xiaotao, co-ceo of ping an of china, said that the future product structure will be dominated by dividend products, which are expected to account for more than 50% of sales products; zhang yuanhan, financial director and chief actuary of china pacific insurance, said that tai ping life insurance will turn to protection and dividend businesses in the future. in the long run, the proportion of dividend products is expected to exceed 50%; cheng yonghong, general manager of taiping life insurance, also said that the subsequent assessment of the branches will be superimposed with dividend insurance. it is expected that the proportion of dividend insurance will increase significantly in the next four months, and it is expected that the proportion of dividend insurance should be more than 50% next year.

sales need long-term promotion

it is generally believed in the industry that dividend insurance is likely to be the mainstream direction of future product development. however, there are still pain points in the current promotion, which requires long-term promotion and long-term efforts.

as yang zeyun, a teacher at the department of finance, school of business, beijing union university, analyzed, under the current situation, dividend insurance faces many unfavorable environments for insurance companies’ own operations, as well as the complex sales of dividend insurance and limited customer understanding. there is also the adverse impact of poor dividends in the early stage, and it also faces competition from many other financial products such as funds and bank wealth management. therefore, the development of the dividend insurance market still needs time and effort.

the development of floating-income insurance products is the general trend. for insurance companies, what measures should be taken to enhance the attractiveness of dividend insurance and the enthusiasm and professional level of sales staff? yang zeyun suggested that insurance companies should strengthen the training of sales staff on dividend insurance products, improve their professional level and understanding of products, and avoid letting sales staff exaggerate the income level of dividend insurance, repeating the previous mistakes of dividend insurance that did not meet expectations and triggered a wave of policy cancellations; at the same time, strengthen information disclosure, improve product transparency, and enhance customer trust. compared with financial products such as funds and savings, the operation of insurance products is more complicated, and the income and dividends are more complicated. insurance companies should use a simple and easy-to-understand way for customers to understand the company's operating conditions and product dividends, so that customers can understand dividend information, gain customer trust, and improve product competitiveness.

in terms of product design, yang zeyun said that the design of dividend insurance products needs to be optimized to better meet market demand and customer preferences. the essence of dividend insurance is that insurance companies and customers share the profits of insurance operations, and its original intention is still insurance protection. therefore, providing customers with insurance protection is the main driving force for dividend insurance to attract customers, and providing customers with dividends is an additional benefit beyond insurance protection. in this way, satisfying customers' risk protection is the driving force for the development of dividend insurance. of course, if insurance companies can obtain higher dividend income for customers through good operations, it will be icing on the cake and more competitive.

looking ahead, song zhanjun said that overall, it will take a long time for participating insurance to regain its dominant position through market promotion and transformation of consumer preferences. hu ningning also believes that in the long run, with the continuous education of the market, the improvement of agent skills, the continuous decline in the expected interest rate, and the recovery of the capital market, participating insurance will become the "c position" product in the market.

beijing business daily reporter li xiumei