Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Overview — Finance and Banking (IV)
Section 4: Insurance. I. People's Insurance. The People's Insurance Company of China is a specialized institution handling domestic and international insurance business. In 1951, the Yuanling and Yongshun branch companies were successively established, under dual leadership of the Hunan Provincial Company and the People's Banks of Yuanling and Yongshun prefectures respectively, managing insurance business in the region. 1952...
This article has been compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · City Overview section). Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Section IV Insurance
I. People's Insurance
The People's Insurance Company of China is a specialized institution handling domestic and international insurance business. In 1951, the Yuanling and Yongshun prefecture branch companies of the People's Insurance Company of China were successively established, respectively under the dual leadership of the Hunan Provincial Company and the People's Banks of Yuanling and Yongshun prefectures, managing insurance business within their jurisdictions. In September 1952, the Xiangxi Miao Autonomous Region Central Sub-branch of the People's Insurance Company of China was established, and at the same time the Yuanling and Yongshun prefecture branch companies were abolished. Thereafter, the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Branch of the People's Insurance Company was abolished and restored several times.
On March 7, 1984, the Hunan Provincial Branch of the People's Bank of China issued document [1984] Xiang Yin Tong Zi No. 18, formally approving the restoration of the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Central Sub-branch of the People's Insurance Company of China, upgrading it to a bureau-level unit directly under the prefectural government. Insurance companies in all counties and cities were also restored one after another. The basic tasks of the People's Insurance Company were: to develop various domestic and international insurance and reinsurance businesses, prevent and mitigate disasters and losses, compensate for economic losses, accumulate insurance funds and foreign exchange funds for the state, and serve the development of the national economy. Domestically, it mainly handled property insurance, liability insurance, personal insurance, and agricultural insurance, among others. At the same time, it was under the dual leadership of higher-level companies and the local government, and accepted the coordination, guidance, supervision, and inspection of people's banks at all levels.
In 1985, the number of insurance types offered increased from the original 15 to 30. These included 16 types of property insurance—enterprise property insurance, employee group and family property insurance, family property endowment insurance, automobile body and third-party liability insurance, tractor, motorcycle, and boat insurance, bicycle theft insurance, railway, highway, and waterway freight transport insurance, and insurance for dairy cattle, work cattle, live pigs, and poultry—and 14 types of personal insurance—simple personal insurance, group personal insurance, group life insurance, pension insurance, motor vehicle driver insurance, highway passenger insurance, ship passenger insurance, group personal accident injury insurance, student safety insurance, maternal and infant health insurance, funeral insurance for households enjoying the five guarantees, travel insurance, and group endowment insurance with additional medical coverage. In 1988, the premium income of the 10 counties and cities in the prefecture reached 19.67 million yuan, 3.45 times that of 1985.
In 1989, in addition to consolidating old insurance types, the insurance work in the 8 counties and cities of the prefecture opened up 6 new types of insurance, including enterprise responsible person safety insurance, product quality inspection insurance, and corn seed production insurance, and adopted an interest differential refund method for simple personal insurance to preserve its value. Insurance income in the 8 counties and cities of the prefecture increased by 19% over the previous year.
In 1990, in order to strengthen insurance services for poverty alleviation, the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Insurance Company added an agricultural insurance mechanism, reinforced staffing, and greatly developed agricultural insurance and other rural businesses. That year, total business income exceeded 20 million yuan, an increase of 1.57 times over 1986, with the rural portion growing by 3.36 times. The people's insurance business made great progress. In 1993, the entire prefecture's insurance system, driven by deepening reform, actively introduced new insurance types and worked hard to increase sources of insurance. That year, a total of 63 types of insurance were offered, with an underwriting amount of 3.69 billion yuan and insurance business income of 61 million yuan, more than double that of 1990.
II. Property Insurance
In 1996, the insurance system deepened reform and implemented separate operations for property and life insurance. The Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Branch of the People's Insurance Company of China became the professional insurance company in the prefecture specializing in property insurance with the largest scale, the strongest strength, the most complete range of insurance types, and the largest market share. During the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period, cumulative premium income reached 174.8 million yuan, and cumulative indemnities reached 120 million yuan, making important contributions to poverty alleviation, disaster relief, and economic construction in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture.
Motor vehicle insurance was the largest component of the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Branch of the People's Insurance Company, accounting for more than 50% of total insurance. During the five years from 1996 to 2000, a total of 2,762 vehicle-times of various motor vehicles were underwritten, with premium income of 83.2 million yuan and claims paid of 52.35 million yuan, an average payout ratio of 62.95%. As for property insurance, due to successive years of severe natural disasters, enterprise property and family property suffered heavy losses. During the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period, property insurance indemnities exceeded 100 million yuan. For example, in the 1996 prefecture-wide flood, Luxi was hit hardest, and the whole prefecture paid 11 million yuan in claims; in the 1998 prefecture-wide flood, Yongshun and Longshan were hit hardest, and the whole prefecture paid 12 million yuan in claims; in the July 1999 Jishou flood, Xiangquan Group's Jiugui Liquor Company received 4.3 million yuan in insurance compensation, and so on. Liability insurance was a new type of insurance launched by the PICC after separate operations, including more than 20 types such as employer's liability insurance, public liability insurance, engineering liability insurance, medical accident liability insurance, food poisoning liability insurance, and travel liability insurance. During the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period, premium income was 7.3 million yuan, and liability insurance benefits paid were 5 million yuan.
Entering the new century, the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Branch of the People's Insurance Company of China did not lose heart because of hardships, but forged ahead and kept innovating amid fierce competition in the insurance market. Property insurance developed rapidly. In 2001, the premium income of the PICC system in the 8 counties and cities of the prefecture exceeded the 40 million yuan mark for the first time, reaching 42.13 million yuan. Per capita premium income increased from 358,600 yuan in 2000 to 401,200 yuan, up 10.84%. The ratio of insurance premium income to gross domestic product (GDP) reached 0.59%, exceeding the national average (0.52%) and ranking first in the provincial system, initially achieving the goal of leapfrog development. In 2003, the company completed its shareholding system reform and was renamed the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Branch of PICC Property and Casualty Company Limited.
In 2004, taking the shareholding system reform as an opportunity, under the premise of a unified legal person system, the company further strengthened its business awareness, updated its business concepts, adhered to a profit-centered business approach, and further innovated its customer-centered service philosophy. Based on the economic situation and business development trajectory of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, it determined the overall approach for PICC business development, giving full play to the leading role of auto insurance business, using the rapidly growing auto insurance business to drive the rapid development of the company's overall business, while taking non-auto insurance business as the foundation of company profits, striving to control the ratio of auto insurance business to non-auto insurance business at a reasonable level of 6:4. That year, auto insurance business grew by 21.55% overall, and non-auto insurance business also achieved gratifying growth against the backdrop of an industry-wide downturn. The Luxi Sub-branch's private enterprise property insurance alone exceeded 1 million yuan. The branch achieved annual premium income of 61.46 million yuan, rising further to 70.69 million yuan in 2005, maintaining sustained and rapid development for 5 consecutive years.
In order to adapt to the company's reform and development and improve its refined management level, the company further improved the construction of the "three centers," realizing centralized management of the entire prefecture's finances by the financial center; underwriting by the underwriting center for all company business, as well as assessment and control of risks underwritten by the company; and handling all claims and customer service work by the claims customer center, thereby strengthening the company's operational and service functions, better serving customers and serving socialist modernization.
III. Life Insurance
The Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Branch of China Life Insurance Company was a state-owned specialized life insurance company restructured from the former Hunan Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Branch of the Life Insurance Company of the People's Insurance Company of China, in accordance with the State Council's decision on reforming the insurance system. It mainly operated life insurance, health insurance, and accident injury insurance, with human life and body as the subject matter. Since the implementation of separate operations for property and life insurance in 1996, the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Branch of China Life Insurance Company took revitalizing the national life insurance business as its mission and serving local economic construction and social stability as its purpose. It earnestly implemented the business philosophy of sustained and healthy development, comprehensively advanced all aspects of company building in accordance with the requirements for establishing a modern commercial life insurance enterprise, and achieved relatively good results. By 2000, it had offered more than 200 types of insurance, 2.29 million people had insured with the company, and total premium income that year was 62.29 million yuan.
Entering the new century, the company, in accordance with the "five haves" business philosophy—the legal person has profits, operations have expenses, employees have tangible benefits, society has status, and development has staying power—took overall command, comprehensively advanced all aspects of company building, and solidly consolidated the foundation for development, causing the company's business development to rise steadily. In 2001, premium income reached 81.75 million yuan, up 31.24% over the previous year. In 2002, premium income increased to 130 million yuan, up 60% over the previous year.
2004 was the first year after the restructuring and listing of China Life Insurance Company. The Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Branch worked hard to adapt to the requirements of a listed company. Proceeding from the realities of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, it based its efforts on "seeking development through stability, earnestly adjusting structure, solidly building the foundation, vigorously enforcing standards, and creating benefits in a healthy manner." Individual insurance business focused on improving income-generating, profit-generating, and fee-generating capabilities and the team's self-management ability, giving priority to selling risk-type, high-additional-premium, and long-payment-period businesses, and vigorously developing high-quality and efficient business. Group insurance business vigorously strengthened team building, paid attention to clearly understanding the operations and insurance situations of legal-person units, opened new sales channels, and consolidated traditional business positions. Intermediary agency business focused on innovative operations, team building, and actively exploring development paths. Life insurance business achieved breakthrough progress. That year, the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Branch system achieved total premium income of 150 million yuan. First-year life insurance premiums, first-year regular premium life insurance, short-term insurance premiums, and accident insurance premiums all increased to varying degrees; total claims and benefits paid were 15.93 million yuan, of which short-term benefits paid were 11.58 million yuan and life insurance benefits paid were 4.35 million yuan. Structural adjustment achieved notable results. That year, regular premiums were 18.67 million yuan, short-term insurance achieved 20.1 million yuan, and effective new single premiums accounted for more than 40% of the year's first-year premiums, basically changing the situation of business structure imbalance and "increased output without increased income" in the branch system.
In 2005, the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Branch of China Life Insurance Company, in accordance with the work approach of "building the foundation, adjusting structure, strengthening management, seeking benefits, and promoting development," highlighted key points and operated steadily, achieving even better performance. Total premium income reached 134.61 million yuan, of which new single life insurance premiums were 67.34 million yuan, regular premium payments were 25.13 million yuan, short-term insurance premiums were 18.72 million yuan, and follow-up premiums for the 99 version were 48.54 million yuan. It realized assessed profit from short-term insurance of 2.368 million yuan, and its share of the life insurance market reached 84%.