(Image source: Visual China) A year and a half later, the new head of ICBC AXA Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "ICBC AXA Life") was finally settled. Today, the official of ICBC AXA Life Insurance announced that Wang Dufu, a veteran of ICBC, was appointed as the chairman and executive director of the company. A few days ago, Zhang Tao, who was also born in ICBC, was approved to take the post of Deputy General Manager of ICBC AXA Life Insurance.
In recent years, the premium of ICBC AXA Life Insurance has shrunk under the adjustment of business structure, and the profit has also fluctuated. How will the new leadership guide ICBC AXA Life Insurance during the transformation of the industry?
At present, ICBC AXA Life Insurance proposes to speed up the "seven most" life insurance companies among China Construction Bank and joint venture insurance companies through the implementation of seven major projects, including group integration, resource allocation and digital transformation. The Blue Whale News reporter noticed that in terms of group integration, Wang Dufu has made frequent actions recently, including visiting ICBC's Personal Financial Business Department and Pension Finance Department, investigating several branches, emphasizing the interaction between banks and companies, and two-way empowerment.
Chairman of the Board and Deputy General Manager were successively approved, and President Wu Qian or transferred staff bank financing
On May 22, ICBC AXA Life announced that, according to the resolution of the shareholders' meeting and with the approval of the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration, Wang Dufu took the position of chairman and executive director of the company.
The former chairman of ICBC AXA Life Insurance is Ma Jian who grew up in ICBC system. Ma Jian joined ICBC in 1984, and has successively held management positions at all levels, from grass-roots outlets, sub branches, branches to the head office of ICBC. Since 2018, Ma Jian has become the chairman of ICBC AXA Life Insurance. In December 2022, ICBC AXA Life announced that Ma Jian would no longer serve as the chairman and executive director of the company due to job changes after receiving the notice from ICBC, the shareholder.
The new chairman of the board of directors also served in the ICBC system for a long time. It is reported that Wang Dufu joined ICBC Zhejiang Branch in 1993 and was transferred to the head office of ICBC in 2000. He once participated in ICBC's financial restructuring, shareholding reform and other work, and later went to the branch to accumulate management experience. Since December 2016, he has served as the president of ICBC Peony Card Center, and in May 2021, he has been transferred as the vice president of ICBC Beijing Branch, successively in charge of financial technology, Internet finance, big data, big retail, channel and service management and other sectors.
At the beginning of this year, there was news in the industry that Wang Dufu, Vice President of ICBC Beijing Branch, was proposed to be Chairman of ICBC AXA Life Insurance. At the same time, Zhang Tao, the CFO of ICBC AXA Life Insurance, was also adjusted. Recently, the General Administration of Financial Supervision announced that Zhang Tao's qualification as Deputy General Manager of ICBC AXA Life was approved.
It is worth mentioning that ICBC AXA Life Insurance may be "general" or adjusted synchronously.
On May 16, ICBC announced that Wang Hailu resigned as chairman of the company due to job changes. According to industry news, the successor is Wu Qian, president of ICBC AXA Life Insurance. Wu Qian also grew up in the ICBC system, and has successively held several posts in the Head Office's Planning and Finance Department and Finance and Accounting Department. In 2015, she joined ICBC AXA Life Insurance as the chief financial officer and financial director. In June 2018, Wu Qian was approved to be the president of ICBC AXA Life Insurance, partnering with Ma Jian.
At the same time as the change of senior management, the middle level also started to adjust. On May 18, ICBC AXA Life Insurance posted an official message, proposing that 2024 is the first year of the establishment of the new party committee of the company, and the leadership of the new party committee attaches great importance to talent work. In order to further strengthen the construction of the company's cadre echelon and improve the youth level of the cadre team, on May 17, ICBC AXA Life Insurance organized an open competitive interview for middle management positions. A total of 23 candidates participated in the interview. In this interview, the new chairman Wang Dufu "personally participated in the interview and set the questions".
Under the adjustment of business structure, the premium shrinks, and the strategic layout focuses on "seven major projects" and building "seven most" insurance enterprises
As an insurance subsidiary of "Cosmos", ICBC AXA Life Insurance has a considerable overall strength relying on the advantages of the parent bank. However, with business adjustment and transformation, the company's performance also fluctuated.
In 2019, the premium income of ICBC AXA Life Insurance was 54.2 billion yuan, and began to shrink the next year. After adjustment for fluctuations, the premium income in 2023 will be 40.495 billion yuan. In terms of profit, ICBC AXA Life Insurance is mostly profitable in recent years. From 2018 after Ma Jian partnered with Wu Qian, to 2021, the net profit will gradually increase, with a net profit of 1.692 billion yuan in 2021, but in 2022, there will be a net loss of 709 million yuan. In 2023, it will turn losses into profits.
In this regard, Lianhe Credit pointed out in the rating report that in 2023, ICBC AXA Life Insurance will expand its traditional life insurance business while reducing the scale of single premium products with high capital consumption. The proportion of premium income of dividend insurance in the original insurance premium income will drop from 42.49% to 14.37%, and the proportion of traditional life insurance will increase from 47.52% to 72.71%, The structure of insurance business has been optimized: the company achieved 40.495 billion yuan of original insurance premium income in the whole year, a year-on-year decrease of 17.56%, mainly due to the decline of premium income of dividend insurance, which is dominated by single payment.
In terms of the latest performance, in the first quarter of 2024, ICBC AXA Life Insurance realized a total premium income of 19.622 billion yuan, ranking second among bank insurance enterprises, with a year-on-year increase of 20%, regular premium of 4.779 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 13%, and the value of new business increased by 22%. At the same time, according to the solvency report, the net profit in the first quarter was 28 million yuan, down about 90% year on year.
At present, the reform of the life insurance industry is involved in the deep water area. Especially since August 2023, the "integration of reporting and banking" of the bancassurance channel has accelerated. For the banking insurance companies with the advantage of the bancassurance channel, transformation and development have become a test.
"In recent years, the debt side of the life insurance industry has grown significantly at the cost of invisible hard redemption and cost increase, making the asset side have to add high-risk equity assets, which has brought huge risk of interest spread loss in the context of declining interest rates and market fluctuations. At the same time, the industry has faced serious homogenization competition and extensive expense management, resulting in the risk of expense spread loss." Wang Dufu said bluntly in a recent media interview.
In this context, ICBC AXA Life Insurance proposed to accelerate the construction of China Construction Bank and joint-venture insurance companies with the largest number of customers, the largest business scale, the best business structure, the best asset quality and the strongest profitability through the implementation of the seven major projects of party building leadership, group integration, resource allocation, digital transformation, risk control and foundation strengthening, talent strengthening, and cultural cohesion The "seven most" life insurance company with the best service reputation and the highest brand value.
It is worth mentioning that, in terms of "group integration", ICBC AXA Life Insurance emphasizes that it will cooperate with ICBC Group to achieve customer integration, tap into the diversified needs of individual and corporate customers of the group in terms of health, pension, security, financing, etc., and embed the company's products into the marketing service system of the parent bank's individual, institutional and corporate customers.
Wang Dufu has started to push forward. The reporter learned that recently, Wang Dufu visited the Pension Finance Department and Personal Finance Business Department of ICBC, and proposed to strengthen the linkage between banks and companies, achieve two-way empowerment and cooperation. At the same time, we conducted research in Beijing, Shandong, Hebei and other places, and visited ICBC branches during the research to discuss deepening cooperation.
The new leadership team is gradually established. In the next step, how ICBC AXA Life Insurance under the leadership of Wang Dufu will work and how the position of the president will change deserve continuous attention.
