Ping An Insurance

Ping An Insurance Group started off in 1988 as a property and casualty insurance company, later diversifying into insurance, banking, asset management, financial services and healthcare services.[11]

Ping An has license to offer financial services, including insurance, banking, trusts, securities, futures and financial leasing.[12]

Since the mid-1990s, Ping An has been subsequently taken investments from overseas firms such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs in 1994. In 2002 HSBC took a large equity interest in Ping An.[13] In early 2008, Ping An agreed to take a 50% share in Fortis Investments, a subsidiary of Fortis,[14] which had taken over ABN AMRO Asset Management as a result of the split up of ABN AMRO in late 2007; the deal was canceled in October 2008.

In June 2009, Ping An became a strategic investor in Shenzhen Development Bank,[15] (now part of Ping An Bank).

In 2016, Ping An Healthcare and Technology (Ping An Good Doctor) completed a Series A funding round of a total of US$500 million, making its valuation hit US$3 billion. Ping An also bought a 48% stake in Chinese car website Autohome Inc. from Telstra Corp. for $1.6 billion.[16]

In February 2018, three technology subsidiaries of Ping An completed private placement financing, which received positive responses particularly from international institutional investors. They were Ping An Healthcare and Technology Company Limited, Ping An Medical and Healthcare Management Co., Ltd and OneConnect Financial Technology Co., LTD.[17]

In May 2018, Ping An Good Doctor was the first technology unicorn listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.[18]

In June 2019, Ping An One Connect Bank officially commenced operation after receiving a virtual banking license from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in May 2019. In December 2019, OneConnect Financial Technology was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.[19]

In September 2020, the group unveiled its healthcare ecosystem strategy and healthtech achievements, which featured a three-pronged strategy for Ping An's development. In October 2020, Lufax, one of China's leading online wealth management platform, listed on the New York Stock Exchange.[20]

In 2021, Ping An further advanced “finance + technology” and promoted “finance + ecosystems,” and continued to explore innovative business models. Ping An strategically upgraded its healthcare ecosystem and explored the “HMO + family doctor + O2O” managed care model.[21]

Technology-Powered Business Transformation

Ping An invests 1% of its revenues into R&D (which itself consists of 10% of its annual profits), specifically, on new technologies of AI, Blockchain and Cloud Computing for ten years to transform its financial services and support the building of its five ecosystems: financial services, healthcare, auto services, real estate services, and smart city services.[22]

More than 598 million users are connected to at least one of those ecosystems.

Over the years, Ping An has successfully launched fintech and healthtech businesses such as Lufax Holding, OneConnect, Ping An Good Doctor (1833.HK), and Ping An HealthKonnect.

It is the industry leader in the areas of AI medical imaging and natural language processing, for instance, Ping An's AskBob Doctor has ranked first in one of the three tasks in MEDIQA 2021, an AI healthcare questionand- answer contest hosted by the Association for Computational Linguistics.[23] In April 2021, AskBob reached a cooperation with Linking Med. Based on Linking Med's Radiotherapy Contouring Software, Askbob can cover the automatic segmentation and recognition of 80+ OAT and the GTV of esophageal carcinoma.[24]

Ping An is a publicly listed company.[25] Beginning in the 1990s, Ping An took advantage of widening reforms to become the first Chinese financial institution in which foreign firms could own equity: Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were early backers. The company eventually went public in 2004, listing in Hong Kong and subsequently also listed in Shanghai in 2007.[26]

As of 31 December 2021, Charoen Pokphand Group is the biggest investor in Ping An, holding 6.8% stake. The Shenzhen Government, via Shenzhen Investment Holdings, (Chinese: 深圳市投資控股), still owned 5.27% stake as the second largest shareholder.[27]

Ping An has the classification of a civilian-run enterprise. Richard McGregor, author of The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers,[28] said that "the true ownership of large chunks of its shares remains unclear" and that the ownership of Ping An is a "murky structure".[29] In October 2012, The New York Times reported that relatives and associates of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao controlled stakes in Ping An worth at least US$2.2 billion in 2007.[30]

HSBC acquired 48.22% of H shares by means of different HSBC subsidiaries[31] (H shares accounted for 34.83% of the share capital as at 31 December 2009,[31] which was later increased to 41.88% in 2015 [32]). HSBC holds 16.80% of total shares of Ping An, making it the biggest shareholder as of 31 December 2009.[31]

Since 24 June 2004 Ping An has been listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (subsidiary of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing) as SEHK: 2318. Since 1 March 2007, it has a listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange as SSE: 601318.

Ping An was chosen as an index stock of the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI), replacing Anhui Expressway in 2004.

The Hang Seng Index Services Company announced on 11 May 2007, that Ping An would join as Hang Seng Index Constituent Stock (Blue Chip Stock) effective on 4 June 2007.

Ping An has operations across all of the People's Republic of China, and in Hong Kong and Macau through Ping An Insurance Overseas. Lufax, OneConnect and Ping An Good Doctor have now expanded overseas. OneConnect is in 10 countries outside of China, serving about 27 top institutional financials.[46]

The financial group is the first China asset owner to have signed Climate Action 100+ and the United Nations’ Principle of Responsible Investment (UNPRI). PRI chief Reynolds called Ping An's decision “a milestone on China's road toward the full embrace of ESG.”[33]

Ping An has achieved more than RMB 1 trillion (USD 140 billion) in responsible investment from clean energy to affordable healthcare. It has extended green credit lines of more than RMB 62 billion (USD 8.5 billion), with a balance of loans at the end of 2019 exceeding RMB 24 billion (USD 3.4 billion). It was the first Chinese company to join UN Principles for Sustainable Insurance.[34]

It was also the first insurance company from mainland China to be selected for the 2019 Dow Jones Sustainability Emerging Markets Index (DJSI).[35]

Ping An was named ESG Investor of the Year for Insurers, China at The Triple A Sustainable Investing Awards for Institutional Investor, ETF, and Asset Servicing Providers by The Asset Magazine.

Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd. said it is on track to achieve operational carbon neutrality in 2030. Ping An targeted annual growth rates of at least 20% for its green investments, at least 70% for its green insurance premiums and no less than 20% for its green credit balance. The insurer intends to hit its overall targets by 2025 with investment and credit of 400 billion yuan and total green insurance premiums of 250 billion yuan.[36]

On the 52nd annual Earth Day, the group issued "A Letter from Ping An to the Earth" promised to support China's goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.[37]

• Ping An Bank

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