This article is from WeChat official accountShenrancaijing, author: Tang Yahua, edit: dawn, drawing questions from the CFP.
The once lively network mutual aid track suddenly “faces”.
On March 24, Easy Mutual Aid, a subsidiary of Easy Group, announced the closure. On March 26, Waterdrop announced that its waterdrop mutual aid platform was upgraded at the end of March, and the original mutual aid plan would be terminated. As early as August 2020, Baidu’s Lanhuo Mutual Aid was shut down, and then in January 2021, Meituan Mutual Aid also announced its shutdown.
So far, the only mutual aid platform with the highest number of users in the industry is still operating under Ant Group’s mutual treasure. However, Ant Group mentioned in the prospectus previously submitted, “Either Huhubao will be rectified to meet compliance requirements, or it will be divested from Ant Group’s business.” The industry believes that because the number of users involved is close to 100 million, Hukoubao may be looking for a decent exit method.
In the past few years, the form of mutual assistance for serious illnesses, which is as low as a few dollars a month, has developed rapidly. Large companies such as Ant Group, Meituan, Didi, Xiaomi, Suning, etc. have developed rapidly in the industry. Start-up companies such as Water Drop Company and Easy Group have launched mutual assistance businesses to share the market.
Nowadays, the listing of Ant Group has been suspended, and the regulatory attitude has become clear. The industry believes that Waterdrop will be listed soon and take the initiative to eliminate risk factors and pave the way for listing, which may be the main reason for its business adjustment. After all, capital risks, claims disputes, and business model dilemmas have always been difficult problems that cannot be circumvented by network mutual assistance.
For companies, the original three-step strategy of fundraising, mutual assistance, and successive layers of insurance has suddenly lost the intermediate link. In the business models of Easy Group and Waterdrop, the transition ladder is no longer , It is bound to be more difficult to transfer users in the free user pool to insurance users with high customer unit prices. Without important pillars, can the high valuations of these companies be able to sustain it?
Actively cutting meat, many online mutual assistance platforms shut down
At the time when the network mutual aid project was underway, the problem that many netizens worried about “others participated in the apportionment when they were sick, and they did not get mutual aid in the end” finally happened.Up.
On March 26, the Waterdrop Mutual Aid Platform, a subsidiary of Water Drop, announced that the original platform mutual assistance plan will be terminated on March 31. This is already the fourth platform to announce the closure of mutual aid business following the closure of Baidu’s “Lighting Mutual Aid”, Meituan Mutual Aid, and Easy Mutual Aid.
Recently, Yang Guang, a partner of Waterdrop Company, explained in an interview: “After the upgrade of Waterdrop Mutual Assistance, only the mutual assistance plan is terminated. The platform serves users through a more stable protection method of commercial health insurance. Network mutual assistance is a cost-effective means of protection, but it is not insurance after all. Its future is still facing unknowns and uncertainties. In the long run, it is in the interests of users to replace mutual assistance plans with commercial health insurance.”
The number one platform for mutual assistance on the Internet is Hukoubao. It has only been more than 2 years since its establishment, and the number of participants once exceeded the hundreds of millions. Water Drop Mutual Aid followed closely. Reports show that it has served more than 80 million members. Currently, Drip Mutual Aid has a capital pool of 300 million yuan. It will be closed on March 31 and hundreds of millions of funds will need to be returned. With the termination of the business, Waterdrop has offered some compensation measures, such as “giving members a one-year health insurance of 500,000 insured amount”.
Easy Mutual Assistance and Water Drop Mutual Assistance, which have been in operation for 5 years, will not refund the previous share of the expenses, and Meituan Mutual Assistance promises to refund the previous share of the expenses. However, Meituan Mutual Aid had only 18 amortization periods before the shutdown, and only 382 people had been rescued. The amount was relatively small, and the operating pressure of the platform was relatively small.
In the industry, in addition to these few, Didi Finance’s “Ditto Mutual”, Suning’s “Ning Hubao”, 360’s “360 Mutual Assistance”, “Sina Mutual Assistance” and “Xiaomi Mutual Assistance” are all following the trend. Mutual assistance projects, but the scale is far smaller than Mutual Bao and Water Drop Mutual Assistance.
However, as the industry advances rapidly, more and more problems are exposed. At present, the amount of mutual treasure has increased from less than 1 yuan per month to about 10 yuan per month. Induced activation, private deductions, difficulty in claim settlement, and higher and higher amortization amounts. Complaints about Xiang Hu Bao are often seen on online platforms.
More importantly, the regulatory vacuum and lack of rules have always been the “life gate” of network mutual assistance.
The “Analysis of Illegal Commercial Insurance Activities and Countermeasures and Suggestions” issued by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission in September 2020 clearly mentions that “network mutual assistance platforms have the characteristics of commercial insurance in nature” and “the number of members is huge, and they are non-licensed operations. “Stakeholder risks should not be ignored”, “Some pre-charging model platforms have formed precipitation funds, and there is a risk of running away.” In addition, the supervision of network mutual assistance platforms lacks institutional basis and is in a state of “four nos” with no supervisor, no supervision, no standards, and no norms.
Currently, new regulatory policies have not been introduced, but as the listing of Ant Group was suspended, companies involved in related businesses have begun to actively “cut meat” and shut down mutual assistance businesses.
Industry insiders speculate that regulatory policy attitudes are becoming increasingly clear, and companies have begun to seek compliance paths, and Waterdrop will be listed soon. Uncertainties must be removed, or follow the P2P platform to prepare for compliance in advance.
Why do I have to quit online mutual aid?
What is the mystery of network mutual assistance, which is widely sought after by enterprises and users? Why has it suddenly become a hot potato that companies are eager to throw away?
Zhang Huali, Executive Director of Beijing Wanteng Law Firm, explained that Internet mutual assistance is a product that combines the original form of insurance with the Internet. Using the information matching function of the Internet, members promise to bear each other’s risk and loss through agreements. , To avoid the individual overburden.
Promote mutual assistance business in a low-threshold way. The rise of online mutual assistance has indeed driven a wave of public health awareness. However, from business models to policy risks to user experience, network mutual assistance currently has many problems that are difficult to reconcile.
Li Keshun, Dean of the Databank Big Data Research Institute, who has been paying attention to the financial industry for a long time, analyzed to Shenran: “The main reason for the shutdown of the network mutual aid business is regulatory issues. There is no policy support for the mutual aid business, in fact, it means that companies without insurance qualification licenses have passed the policy. A commercial product produced by the loopholes, this product is initiated by the credibility of the company, and the fund-raising is managed by the self-control of the company, and the claims review is carried out by the company’s recruitment or entrusted to a third party, which is completely in a regulatory vacuum.”
Zhang Huali also pointed out that the main body of network mutual assistance is the network technology company. When the company was established, there were not many specific requirements for shareholders and capital, etc., and the barriers to entry were low, and its essence was privateWhen an organization is established, it is free of supervision.
The second major hidden danger of network mutual assistance is the safety of funds.
“Because there are no relevant control regulations, there is no relevant clear supervision department for network mutual assistance, no or imperfect fund monitoring process, self-regulation of enterprises, who can guarantee the safety of funds? It may eventually become a concealment of illegal fund-raising Channels are like P2P. If it is illegal fund-raising, companies will basically run away when the funds cannot be turned around. Mutual aid funds will only know that the money is still in the account when the claims are triggered, and the claims rate can be controlled through the claims review.” Li Keshun Said.
Zhang Huali also mentioned that the flow of funds on online mutual assistance platforms is opaque and lacks external supervision. It is difficult to trace back through reasonable channels. It may abuse the kindness of the people, and even companies or individuals may act in the name of online mutual assistance. cheat.
The third hidden danger of network mutual assistance is the settlement of claims.
Although the mutual aid model of claims settlement is similar to commercial insurance, “the online mutual aid community is not supervised by the China Banking Regulatory Commission, lacks a mature actuarial system, has no liability reserve, and is not subject to solvency restrictions. It is very risky to say that it will be shut down. Moreover, the rules of the online mutual assistance platform are too arbitrary. For example, Xiang Hubao moved mild thyroid cancer to mild in April 2019 and only paid 50,000 yuan; December 2019 In the month, mild thyroid cancer and mild prostate cancer are directly excluded. The arbitrary modification of the provisions has led to uncertainty in the payment standard of mutual aid on the Internet, and users may not be able to receive mutual aid funds due to the revision of the provisions.” Zhang Huali said.
There is another hidden danger of network mutual assistance, which is for enterprises.
First of all, how do mutual aid companies make money? According to Li Keshun’s analysis, in theory, mutual aid companies have user traffic and can advertise, but the customer groups do not match. The participants in mutual aid are usually people who cannot afford conventional insurance products or have other problems. This group is valuable to advertisers. Not big. And the amount of mutual assistance was originally small, Mutual aid companies charge a certain management fee. Even if the project is positioned at the beginning, even if it is a public welfare type, the company’s funding plate is limited, and the positioning restricts the path to make money. Maintaining operations is also a problem.
At the same time, the incremental users of the mutual aid project cannot be found, and the existing users have low mining value. “The groups participating in mutual assistance are very price-sensitive, and low fees are the main reason for participation. If there are no incremental users who continue to join, the claims rate will be controlled within a certain range, and the amortized cost will gradually increase, and when a certain standard is reached, users will be lost. If the compensation rate is controlled to maintain the stability of mutual aid funds, users who meet the claims standards may not be able to exercise their rights, resulting in public opinion risks, affecting credibility, and causing users to be less willing to add new ones.” Li Keshun said.
If the company is working hard to tap incremental users and implement value-added derivative products to make money, such as insurance products, although the original intention is to screen high-quality users for high-value conversion, it will make most users wonder: “If I can buy regular Insurance, why invest in mutual assistance that increases costs and risks?”
More importantly, what if the regulatory authority does not endorse the model? Li Keshun believes that although companies may think that business expansion has a chance to be recognized by the regulatory authorities, if so, the existing insurance licenses will have no value and the entire industry order will be disrupted.
Therefore, for a product in the field of strong financial supervision, the undertaking body lacks supervision, product rules are lacking, and user rights and interests are difficult to protect, and it is inevitable to withdraw from the historical stage.
Without a link, does Internet insurance still stand firm?
Based on the above, companies may also realize that continuing to operate mutual assistance business will not bring benefits, but may harm the main business. It is wise to stop in time.
Wang Chao, the founder of Wenyuan Think Tank, analyzed to Shenran. Originally, companies in the industry were “gambling”. They hoped that after the industry became bigger, the supervision would not beat them to death, and might even support it. Legalization, so that arbitrage can be achieved through regulatory dividends. However, judging from the suspension of the listing of Ant Group, the regulator’s attitude towards Internet finance is very clear, which is basically a one-size-fits-all.
“On the whole, this is a small wave in the entire Internet financial storm, affecting these companies.” Wang Chao said.
But the network mutual assistance business did not exist independently at the beginning of its birth, it has its own historical mission.
Such as the water drop chip company’s water drop chip, water drop mutual aid, water dropThe insurance market is the three step-by-step sections. If a user has a sick person nearby and donates to crowdfunding for his family and friends through the water drop chip, the user understands the critical illness protection system. Later, he may be touched by a serious illness and join the mutual aid of a few dollars a month to make a preliminary attempt. When users have a deep understanding of health protection, the platform may transform it into long-term insurance with high customer unit prices.
In fact, the status of Waterdrop Mutual Aid to Waterdrop Company cannot be underestimated. Within 100 days of going online, it has gained millions of users. According to the official data, in the past five years since it went online, Waterdrop Mutual Assistance has helped 21,235 families.
After the shutdown, it has become more difficult for users to retain users. It is still unknown whether the main insurance intermediary business of Waterdrop can be guaranteed to grow steadily by relying solely on Waterdrop.
The situation is similar to Xiang Hu Bao and Easy Group. Ant Group attracts users through Alipay’s functions such as spending, borrowing, and payment, and then uses mutual insurance to let users pay a few dollars, and finally diverts willing users to accident insurance, medical insurance, critical illness insurance and other insurances. Channel consumption.
Nowadays, one leg is cut off, and the intermediate transition link is missing. From a simple crowdfunding business to a high-threshold insurance, it will inevitably be more difficult to transform.
Wang Chao analyzed that this type of product first uses a free inclusive service to acquire customers, and the mutual assistance part in the middle can be called basic business, so that users can pay a small amount of money, and the company will screen out a batch of users from the free user pool. Users who are willing to pay can slowly be guided to the insurance business with high customer unit prices. This is a three-step strategy. Nowadays, if the basic users are removed and free users are allowed to jump over to buy high-priced insurance, the market education is missing a period, which will create certain obstacles for users.
He speculates that in the future, companies may also develop a mutual assistance-like intermediary business from the inclusive business to undertake this part of the function, otherwise the conversion rate, service and marketing accuracy of the company will be greatly reduced.
In February 2021, there were media reports that Waterdrop Company willAfter going to the US for IPO, the latest valuation of Waterdrop, which has been established for 6 years, has reached 10 billion U.S. dollars. So, after this incident, can Waterdrop’s $10 billion market value be maintained?
At present, the insurance brokerage company that has been listed in the industry is Wisdom Insurance, with a market value of 432 million US dollars. Because of the Internet “cloak” of Waterdrop and Waterdrop Mutual Assistance, the valuation of Waterdrop Company is higher than that of Huize Insurance. More than 20 times.
“After insurance intermediaries put on the cloak of the Internet, their valuations have become higher because they can use the Internet and capital pools to innovate, such as network mutual assistance, Huabei, and borrowing. Companies use part of their own funds to add huge amounts of money. The number of Internet users continues to circulate. But now, Ant Group has suspended its listing, and the wanton innovation in the Internet finance field is restricted. This industry will become more and more cautious, which greatly destroys the prospects of these companies.” Super say.
In other words, with the gradual withdrawal of network mutual assistance from the historical stage, the previous expectations of loose regulation in the Internet finance industry no longer exist, and there is no room for corporate arbitrage, and the industry’s potential and imagination will shrink. As for whether the high valuations of water drop chips can continue, it depends on the bids of the capital market after listing.
For users, “Internet mutual assistance gives many people the opportunity to obtain protection at the lowest cost, but the price is that there is no legal protection. The closure of the online mutual assistance platform this time has also given everyone an early warning. It is very unstable for the country’s commercial insurance to start comprehensive protection as early as possible, and it is very unstable to easily pin life security on a high-risk mutual assistance platform.” Zhang Lihua reminded.
*The pictures in the text are from Pexels.