ZhongAn

Last updated
ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance Co. Ltd.
SEHK:  6060
ISIN CNE100002QY7
IndustryInsurance
Founded2013
Headquarters
Shanghai
,
China
Area served
China, Asia Region
Key people
Yaping Ou
ServicesOnline insurance
RevenueIncrease2.svg CN¥34.1 billion (2024)
Total assets Increase2.svg CN¥45.3 billion (2024)
Total equity Increase2.svg CN¥20.9 billion (2024)
Subsidiaries ZhongAn Information and Technology Services Co., Ltd. ZhongAn Broker
Website https://www.zhongan.com/

ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance Co. Ltd. is an online-only insurance company in China. Founded in 2013, the company's headquarters are based in Shanghai, China. ZhongAn's founder is Yaping Ou who was also an executive director. The company's CEO is Xing Jiang. [1] The company offers and sells health, digital lifestyle, consumer finance and auto insurance.As of January 2019, ZhongAn has a total market capitalization of HK$38.5 billion. [2]

Contents

Markets

The insurance technology company is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the stock code ‘6060:HK’. ZhongAn began floating on the stock exchange in September 2017 and raised US$1.5 billion on its opening day, at a valuation of US$11 billion. [3] This made it the largest initial public offering in Hong Kong in 2017 and also the first insurance technology offering that Hong Kong had.[ citation needed ] ZhongAn's share prices increased by more than 9% on the opening day of their public trading to HK$65.20. Alvin Cheung Chi-Wai, an associate director at Prudential Brokerage in Hong Kong, said, “The main reason is not ZhongAn displaying attractive quality but the three 'horses' backing it” – in reference to the company's three original founders, as ‘Ma’ in Chinese translates to meaning ‘horse’. The day after its IPO, its share price declined by 2.7%. According to the latest data from the National Financial Regulatory Administration, China’s insurtech market exceeded 180 billion yuan in 2024, representing a year-on-year increase of 37% and remaining a high-growth market. [4] By the end of 2016, ZhongAn made up 0.9% of China's insurtech market and gained a competitive advantage by having a special digital insurance license before its competitors. [3] As of the end of 2024, Zhongan holds a market share of over 20% in China's internet property and casualty insurance market, ranking first. [5]

Products and services

Since ZhongAn's inception, it has up to 500 million users [6] and has issued 9.133 billion insurance policies as of June 30, 2024 [7] . Insurance products cover across four ecosystems: health ecosystem, digital lifestyle ecosystem, auto ecosystem and consumer finance ecosystem. A significant proportion of its customer base (60%), are aged 20 to 35 and most consumers from this age group bought their first insurance policy through the company. ZhongAn offers a wide range of personalised products and services to its Chinese consumers. [1]

Business

ZhongAn received approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) to add auto insurance and insurance information services to its business scope in 2015 [8] , and piloted model clauses in six experimental zones to diversify its premium structure. It also completed a pre-IPO financing round of RMB 5.775 billion, increasing its capital reserves. [9]

In 2016, ZhongAn Technology was established to support technological upgrades in the insurance industry and promote the adoption of blockchain, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies. [10] [11]

ZhongAn International was established at the end of 2017 as a global business development platform to explore international collaboration and investment opportunities in overseas fintech and insurtech markets. [12]

In August 2018, ZhongAn created a second partnership with a Boston-based biotechnology company, Orig3n. [13] In the same year, ZhongAn Technology announced a partnership agreement with Chinese insurance company, AXA Tianping. [14]

ZhongAn obtained a Hong Kong virtual banking license and an internet hospital license in 2019. The upgraded “Wujieshan 2.0” platform went live at the end of the year. [15]

ZA Bank, Hong Kong’s first virtual bank, officially launched in 2020. [16] ZhongAn reached 520 million total users and reported its first net profit since its IPO, indicating a shift from scale-focused growth to a more sustainable model supported by underwriting and technology services. [17]

ZhongAn recorded its first underwriting profit since its founding in 2021. ZhongAn International also launched ZA One, a one-stop financial services platform. [18]

In 2022, ZA Bank entered the investment and wealth management sector and became the first virtual bank in Hong Kong to receive a Type 1 regulated activity (securities trading) license from the Securities and Futures Commission. [19] It launched fund sales services in August 2022 to diversify its revenue sources. [20]

ZhongAn released “AIGC/ChatGPT Insurance Industry Application Whitepaper,” the first domestic whitepaper on generative AI applications in insurance. At the 2023 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, ZhongAn unveiled an AIGC application map for the insurance industry, along with its AIGC central platform “Zhong You Ling Xi”. [21]

Overseas and technology-related businesses contributed to ZhongAn’s financial performance, with these segments accounting for 18% of total revenue in 2024, up from 9% in 2021. [22]

On July 4, 2025, ZhongAn completed the placement of 215 million new H shares, with the proceeds earmarked for overseas expansion and technology research and development to further optimize its capital structure. [23]

Founders and key individuals

The company was originally co-founded by Jack Ma from Alibaba, Pony Ma from Tencent Holdings and Mingzhe Ma from Ping An Insurance Group [24] , together with Yaping Ou, who served as executive chairman of the company until 2022 and has transitioned to a non-executive role since then. In 2023, Hai Yin succeeded Ou as non-executive chairman, bringing over two decades of insurance and fintech expertise. [25] The current CEO, Xing Jiang (appointed in 2019), previously served as CTO and has driven technological innovations of the company such as the proprietary cloud-based insurance core system “Wujieshan”, which now processes 19.7 billion policies annually. [26]

References

  1. 1 2 "Chinese online insurer ZhongAn raises $1.5bn in IPO". The Financial Times. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  2. "Grab and ZhongAn team up for insurance joint venture in Southeast Asia". South China Morning Post. 2019-01-16. Retrieved 2019-05-15.
  3. 1 2 "ZhongAn benefits from the Ma effect". Nikkei Asia. Archived from the original on November 6, 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  4. Sheng, Cliff; Leonard, Matthew; Gangu, Prashanth; Liu, Kang (2016). "China Insuretech Industry Report" (PDF). Oliver Wyman. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  5. China Economic (2024-08-28). "Zhongan Insurance Announces 2024 Interim Results: Maintains Leading Market Share in China's Internet Property & Casualty Insurance Sector". sina (in Chinese (China)). Archived from the original on 2026-02-04. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  6. "Zhongan Insurance: Building Inclusive Insurance Services with Innovative Internet Marketing Models". finance.sina.com.cn. 2024-08-07. Archived from the original on 2026-02-04. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  7. "Zhongan Online Recorded Total Premiums of Over RMB 15 Billion in the First Half of the Year, with More Than 9 Billion Insurance Policies Issued". www.163.com. 2024-08-28. Archived from the original on 2024-08-30. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  8. "The first online auto insurance company is born as ZhongAn Insurance obtains a car insurance license". finance.people.com.cn. Archived from the original on 2021-09-25. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  9. "ZhongAn Insurance's plan to increase capital and expand shares has been approved". finance.people.com.cn. Archived from the original on 2026-02-04. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  10. "ZhongAn Insurance establishes subsidiary ZhongAn Technology". finance.china.com.cn. Archived from the original on 2026-02-04. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  11. GmbH, finanzen.net. "ZhongAn Online Embarks Global Technology Empowerment Journey Expanding Insurance Boundary | Markets Insider". markets.businessinsider.com. Archived from the original on 2018-11-06. Retrieved 2018-11-06.
  12. "China's Online Insurer ZhongAn to Get Investment from SoftBank for Overseas Growth". PR Newswire. August 21, 2018. Retrieved September 1, 2018.
  13. AIR, team (August 2, 2018). "China: ZhongAn in health tech partnership". Asia Insurance Review. Archived from the original on August 6, 2018. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  14. "ZhongAn Tech launches intelligent commercial insurance open platform, AXA Tianping is the first to join". news.cnstock.com. 2018-08-08. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  15. News China. "Hong Kong issues three virtual banking licenses; services expected to launch within 6 to 9 months". m.chinanews.com. Archived from the original on 2026-02-04. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  16. "ZA Bank becomes Hong Kong's first virtual lender to report a profit". South China Morning Post. 2024-09-04. Archived from the original on 2025-08-03. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  17. "For the first time since its listing, ZhongAn Insurance achieved a profit of 550 million yuan attributable to shareholders in 2020". www.toutiao.com. 2021-03-24. Archived from the original on 2026-02-04. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  18. "ZhongAn Insurance's net profit increased by 110.3% year-on-year in 2021, achieving underwriting profitability for the first time". news.cnstock.com. 2022-03-23. Archived from the original on 2022-03-23. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  19. "Hong Kong's ZA Bank can now offer investment services | Asian Banking & Finance". asianbankingandfinance.net. 2022-01-24. Archived from the original on 2022-01-26. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  20. Brusnahan, Patrick (2022-08-08). "Virtual firm ZA Bank launches investment fund service". Private Banker International. Archived from the original on 2025-07-25. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  21. TianLei, Zhang. "A New Paradigm of "AI + Insurance" Applications: ZhongAn Showcases AIGC Capabilities at the Artificial Intelligence Conference". caijing.chinadaily.com.cn. Archived from the original on 2026-02-04. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  22. "ZhongAn Online (6060.HK) 2024 Annual Report Review: Stable Profitability in Property & Casualty Insurance, Significant Improvement in Technology and Banking Businesses". www.microbell.com. 2025-03-20. Archived from the original on 2026-02-04. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  23. "With both buyers and sellers, ZhongAn Online completes a HK$3.9 billion placement". finance.caixin.com. Archived from the original on 2025-10-07. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  24. "Three horses, one unicorn". Week In China. October 20, 2017. Archived from the original on October 19, 2018. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
  25. "Zhongan Online Announces First Leadership Change in a Decade: Yaping Ou Steps Backstage, Hai Yin Takes Over as Chairman". JRJ.com. July 26, 2023. Archived from the original on July 26, 2023. Retrieved February 3, 2026.
  26. "Zhongan Online: "Wujieshan" Processes 19.732 Billion Policies Annually, Underwriting Automation Rate Rises to 99% - Tencent News". Tecent News. April 25, 2025. Archived from the original on February 3, 2026. Retrieved February 3, 2026.