bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

Zurich Financial Services Group is leading the mainland micro-insurance business with a market survey to find out what coverage the market needs.
The insurer has commissioned  Nankai University in Tianjin to look  into  demand for micro-insurance products, specifically for coverage on crops, farm equipment and livestock as well as life and casualty in Jiangsu province.
A report is due next month.
The underwriter also donated US$3.5 million to the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University to establish an insurance research centre.
Micro-insurance policies offer cheap, standardised coverage for farmers and workers on crops, livestock or simple tools.
'In some parts of the world, people's income stream is a cow, and that's just as important to them an asset or income stream as other businesses are to other people,' said James Schiro, chief executive  of Zurich Financial Services Group. 'So why shouldn't that cow be insured?'
Zurich Financial expects to launch pilot programmes in Jiangsu, Anhui and Guangxi provinces, where regulators offer more flexibility on licensing than in the more hotly contested commercial markets.
Profits in micro-insurance are improving, although finding an efficient delivery method and being able to predict the risks of a fragmented market remain a challenge.
'We're not a non-profit organisation. We have shareholders to answer to,' Mr Schiro said.
'The challenge with offering this kind of product is keeping the underwriting simple to hold down costs.'
Zurich Financial offers micro-insurance products in a number of other countries.
In some markets the company  has stapled application forms to bags of crop fertiliser, while in Latin America it has introduced a pay-as-you-go auto insurance policy that comes as a top-up card available in convenience stores and activated when needed, much like a phone card.
In South Africa, the company is looking at ways to offer life insurance to victims of Aids,  to protect their income stream and livelihoods.
Targeting the poor peasants of the mainland may not seem as lucrative as tapping into the  middle class, but it is  part of a longer-term strategy to gain market share, Mr Schiro says.
'We want to capture the market as it builds up its wealth. In time they will get their own wealth and income bases,' he said.



From farm cow to crop cover, insurer assessing micro-market needs