PING An Insurance (Group) Co., China’s largest insurer by market value, said it can counter the impact from the coronavirus outbreak with its technology prowess even as income from that business slumps.

The Shenzhen-based company has moved all its life-insurance activities, from agent training and hiring to client interaction, online because the epidemic has disrupted any face-to-face communication. Many banking services have also resumed, but over the internet, Ping An president Xie Yonglin said.

“The impact is definitely there, but we’re using technology and our efforts to minimize such impact,” he said.

The epidemic adds pressure on Ping An’s management team, already trying to cope with slowing growth in the firm’s core life insurance business. Its agent force is also shrinking as it adjusts its product mix toward higher-margin policies that require more expertise to sell.

Net income for last year missed estimates, while the growth in value of new business, a gauge of profitability of new life policies sold, slipped to 5 percent from 7.3 percent in 2018, full-year results released last week owed.

The epidemic will have a “very big impact” on life insurance sales through agents in the first quarter, particularly complicated products that typically require personal communication before any contract can be signed, chief insurance business officer Lu Min said, without giving specific estimates. The company is providing help including financial support to its 1-million-strong agent force to get them through this difficult time as commissions tumble, he added.

Lu said more people are participating in Ping An’s online job seminars for agent hiring than in regular times, and agents are spending more time on training, giving him hope the business can return to a normal level after the outbreak is contained.

Co-CEO Jessica Tan said management pays more attention to technology revenue, which expanded 27 percent last year.

(SD-Agencies)