On November 5, the 2017 Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Insurance (Tianjin Airport) International Forum—hosted by the Tianjin Airport Economic Area Administrative Committee and co-organized by the School of Finance of Nankai University, China Captive Network and China Taiping Insurance (HK) Co., Ltd.—was held in Tianjin.
More than 300 attendees took part, including Asia-Pacific insurance regulators such as the insurance supervision departments of mainland China and Hong Kong, the Insurance Supervision Division of Laos's finance authority, and Malaysia's Labuan International Business and Financial Centre; domestic captive companies such as CNPC Captive, Railway Captive and COSCO Captive; more than 20 Fortune Global 500 enterprises such as CNNC, PowerChina, ENN Group and Dongxu Group; Chinese and foreign insurance intermediaries such as Aon-COFCO Insurance Brokers and Marsh Insurance Brokers; and experts and scholars from institutions such as Nankai University and Beijing Jiaotong University. Together they discussed how insurance can serve the real economy, offered suggestions for the building of the Tianjin Insurance Industrial Park, and promoted win-win Asia-Pacific captive cooperation.
Zhou Yanli, former vice chairman of the CIRC, attended the meeting and said: "The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Insurance Forum hosted by the Tianjin Airport Economic Area Administrative Committee provides an excellent platform for the Chinese and foreign insurance industries to strengthen international exchange and cooperation and give full play to the functions of insurance." As the General Secretary has pointed out, in our development we must adhere to quality first and efficiency first, take supply-side structural reform as the main line, and promote transformations in the quality, efficiency and driving forces of economic development. In the new era, guided by the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, our insurance industry must work out how to serve economic and social development, and in terms of development modes and development models, we must blaze a new path. We must transform the direction of financial and insurance services, change the tendency of financial services to drift from the real to the virtual, and achieve the business goals of financial services and insurance services.
Zhou Yanli put forward views on the development of the insurance industry. First, the financial and insurance industry must undergo transformation and upgrading, optimize the financial structure, and improve the quality and efficiency of financial and insurance supply. Second, financial and insurance services must adapt to the new needs of coordinated regional development. Issues such as the regional development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the building of the Xiong'an New Area, the development of the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, and the development space of the Belt and Road Initiative are all huge markets, and also new markets and new spaces. Third, serving the new requirements of building an innovative country. The financial industry must transform and upgrade to provide high-efficiency financial and insurance products for manufacturing, technological innovation and major projects. Fourth, the development of the financial industry must proceed in step with state-owned enterprise reform. Fifth, we must always adhere to the national policy of opening up. The General Secretary pointed out that opening up is a key move for China's external development; the formation of a new pattern of comprehensive opening up will create new space for external development. For high-level economic exchange and Belt and Road construction, financial institutions and insurance institutions must take the lead and bravely shoulder their responsibilities.
Lyu Yingbo, deputy director of the Administrative Committee of the Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone and Airport Economic Area, said at the forum: "The insurance industry is a pillar force of the modern financial system and an important part of modern service industries." Centering on the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Tianjin's overall positioning of "one base and three zones," the Airport Economic Area has continuously innovated and explored the building of a financial innovation demonstration zone. In accordance with the requirements of the "Opinions on Strengthening the Insurance Industry's Service for the Building of the Tianjin Free Trade Demonstration Zone and the Major Strategy of Coordinated Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Development" jointly issued by the Tianjin Municipal Government and the CIRC, and with the support of the municipal insurance regulatory bureau, the municipal financial bureau and the Binhai New Area government, the three departments issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Innovative Development of the Tianjin Airport Economic Area Insurance Industrial Park" in October 2016, and the Airport Insurance Industrial Park was officially launched. Following the principles of demonstration leadership, industrial clustering and differentiated development, the industrial park actively gives play to the function of financial services serving the real economy, continuously drives the clustered development of the insurance industry in the Tianjin Airport Economic Area, and has achieved remarkable results. At present, the insurance industrial park has attracted nearly 40 insurance-related enterprises, with registered capital of RMB 13.2 billion; the insurance industry has initially taken shape and its growth momentum continues to accelerate.
"Insurance funds have the unique advantages of long duration, large scale, high stability and flexible utilization, and have become an important force in promoting the transformation of the real economy, advancing industrial restructuring and supporting the development of the capital market," said Zhang Lei, deputy director of the Tianjin Financial Bureau. She believes that Tianjin's status as a demonstration zone for financial innovation and operation is rising day by day; the huge scale of funds must be effectively allocated in order to preserve and increase the value of insurance funds and safeguard the interests of the broad mass of policyholders, and only then can they play a positive role in the real economy and the building of people's livelihoods.
"As China's economy develops and radiates influence to the world via the Belt and Road as a link, the strength with which China's insurance industry serves society will gradually increase," said Jiang He, deputy secretary-general of the Insurance Society of China. He believes that the integrated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei is a very important national strategy; as a city with an important position in international cooperation, Tianjin carries very important regional advantages and geographical advantages for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei development, and the building of the Tianjin Insurance Innovation Zone and the Tianjin Insurance Economic Cooperation Zone will surely play an important role in promoting the integrated regional economic development of Tianjin and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei.
Professor Jiang Shengzhong of the School of Finance at Nankai University attended the meeting and said that industrial parks are an important spatial clustering form for regional economic development and industrial adjustment and upgrading, shouldering important missions such as aggregating innovation resources, cultivating emerging industries and promoting urbanization. At present, China has only two insurance industrial parks—Beijing's Shijingshan and Tianjin's Airport—and within free trade zones there is only the one in Tianjin, which must therefore shoulder the heavy responsibility of being the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei insurance industrial park in the future. An insurance industrial park established in a free trade zone enjoys more and better preferential policies, can reduce costs, and can gather international finance and logistics and warehousing industries, which is more conducive to driving the development of the insurance industry, benefits international competition, promotes international insurance exchange and business expansion, and drives premium growth.
The Tianjin Airport Economic Area Administrative Committee, China Captive Network, China Taiping Insurance (HK) Co., Ltd. and Aon-COFCO Insurance Brokers Co., Ltd. jointly signed the "Memorandum of Cooperation on Promoting Asia-Pacific Captive Cooperation and Development." Representatives of Asia-Pacific financial and insurance centers such as Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore witnessed the signing ceremony and showed strong interest in joining the cooperation mechanism in the next stage.
The Tianjin Airport Economic Area Administrative Committee and the School of Finance of Nankai University preliminarily reached strategic cooperation intentions on jointly building an insurance industry research institute, cooperating to host international insurance forums and strengthening personnel training, and signed a strategic cooperation agreement.
In the afternoon, China Captive Network organized and convened the "Asia-Pacific Captive Cooperation and Development and Belt and Road Risk Management Seminar." Pan Guochao, General Manager of CNPC Captive Property Insurance Co., Ltd.; Gao Dahong, Director and Deputy General Manager of China Railway Captive Property Insurance Co., Ltd.; and Zheng Xiaozhe, General Manager of COSCO Shipping Captive Property Insurance Co., Ltd., gave reports on captive companies' innovative risk management, serving Belt and Road construction and comprehensive enterprise risk management.
Report by Pan Guochao, General Manager of CNPC Captive Property Insurance Co., Ltd.
Report by Gao Dahong, Director and Deputy General Manager of China Railway Captive Property Insurance Co., Ltd.
Report by Zheng Xiaozhe, General Manager of COSCO Shipping Captive Property Insurance Co., Ltd.
Asia-Pacific captive centers including the Hong Kong Insurance Authority, the Lao insurance regulator and Malaysia's Labuan International Business and Financial Centre gave keynote reports on strengthening cooperation with the Tianjin Insurance Industrial Park and promoting the common prosperity of the Asia-Pacific captive industry.
Mr. Danial, CEO of Malaysia's Labuan International Business and Financial Centre, delivers a report on China-Malaysia insurance cooperation and development
Lin Ruijiang, Executive Director of the Hong Kong Insurance Authority, delivers a report on the development of Hong Kong's captive market
Mr. Somxay, Deputy Director of the Lao Insurance Supervision Division, introduces the Lao insurance industry and China-Laos railway insurance cooperation
August Probstl, General Manager of the Global Capital Reinsurance Department of Munich Re, introduces international captive development experience
Song Xueliang of China Ping An Insurance Company introduces innovative insurance practices such as China's first-unit (set) equipment insurance and new materials insurance
Yu Luwei, CEO of Zurich Insurance (China), delivers a keynote report on captive development and international captive arrangements for enterprises
Sun Youwen, Vice President of Swiss Re Group China, introduced risk management experience for Chinese enterprises under the Belt and Road. Mr. Kegan Chan, Vice President of Marsh Insurance Brokers and head of sales for the Asia data analytics team, reported on research findings in enterprise data and new risk management. Beijing Jiaotong University, China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation, ENN Energy Holdings Limited, Aon-COFCO Insurance Brokers Co., Ltd. and China Security International Risk Management Consulting Co., Ltd. held thematic discussions on captives and Belt and Road risk management.
Sun Youwen, Vice President of Swiss Re Group China, delivers a report on overseas investment risk management under the Belt and Road
Mr. Kegan Chan, Vice President of Marsh Insurance Brokers and head of sales for the Asia data analytics team, delivers a report on enterprise data and new risk management
Ren Ying, Associate Professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, moderates the seminar on captives and Belt and Road risk