Ping An Insurance, China’s largest insurer by market value, has revealed plans to invest RMB100 billion (US$15.8 billion) into financial technology (fintech) efforts over the next 10 years.
“Over the past 10 years, Ping An has continued to invest 1% of its annual revenue into financial technology. This translated into a total investment of RMB50 billion and was not included in our regular research and development investment,” Jessica Tan, chief operating officer and chief information officer of Ping An Insurance, was quoted as saying by China Daily. “For 2017 alone, such an investment amounted to RMB7 billion.”
The insurer, headquartered in Shenzhen, beat forecasts by posting a net profit of RMB89.09 billion (US$14.06 billion) in 2017, a 42.8% year-on-year increase.
Ping An’s spinning off of four of its units in the financial technology and healthcare technology sector for a combined US$40 billion has attracted significant attention. The two technological sectors now combine for Ping An’s third-largest source of revenue, behind its traditional life and healthcare insurance businesses.
“Financial conglomerates should lose no time to jump on the technology bandwagon in their quest for the next growth engine,” said Ping An president Alex Ren.
Ping An Healthcare and Technology, also known as Good Doctor, is China’s largest healthcare and online medical platform. It posted a net profit of RMB10.8 billion in 2017. Good Doctor's most recent funding round of US$400 million placed the spinoff with a valuation of US$5.4 billion.
