Onlne insurer aims to sell products by year-end

Zhong An will address online risks by product quality, merchants' credibility, courier serviceZhong An Online Property Insurance, the mainland's first online insurance firm, plans to roll out its first insurance products by the end of the year.迷你倉The new venture is a three-way tie-up between Ping An Insurance, the mainland's largest internet service portal Tencent and Alibaba, the country's largest e-commerce firm."We may make breakthroughs in the fields of e-commerce and mobile payments," said chief executive Yin Hai at the company's launch ceremony in Shanghai on Wednesday.The partners would address the risks of online shopping and design "innovative products" to solve these problems, said Yin."Risks are reduced by quality of products, credibility of shop owners and the service of couriers," he said.Alibaba is the largest shareholder of Zhong An with a 19.9 per cent stake. Tencent and Ping An each owns 15 per cent, while the mainland's largest online travel agency Ctrip owns 5 per cent. The balance is spread among a number of other shareholders.Jack Ma Yun, the chairman of Alibaba, said the most important task for Zhong An was to build a database that could be leveraged by all kinds of companies in the future.Headquartered in the Huang儲存u district of Shanghai, the insurer has registered capital of 1 billion yuan (HK$1.27 billion).Yin said Zhong An would sell its products and deal with claims online, instead of opening bricks-and-mortar stores."That doesn't mean that we will simply move the traditional insurance business from offline to online," he said. "We will cater for a different market and provide products for internet enterprises and individuals."Zhong An's product portfolio would range from enterprise property insurance to cargo transportation insurance and exchange rate insurance "but all these businesses must be related to internet transactions", Yin said.Online transactions by individuals usually involved small payments, he said."The average payment for each purchased item online could be just several hundred yuan," he added.As a result, the firm's insurance products will be quite cheap."Some products will perhaps cost only several yuan," Yin said. "Our idea is small things can make a big difference."The company has attracted intense media attention since it was initiated in April last year. The leaders of the three major shareholders are all surnamed Ma, which means horse in Chinese, hence the quip at the launch of the firm "three horses selling insurance".mini storage