Major insurer Ping An using AI to improve efficiency

China's major listed insurer, Ping An Insurance (Group) Co, released its core intelligent technologies for the first time Wednesday to show how they can improve operation efficiency.

Two products, based on artificial intelligence, were open to other insurance companies, Chen Xinying, executive deputy general manager of Ping An, said at the publishing ceremony.

It aims to provide a better solution for risk control, cost reduction, efficiency improvement and users' experience, she said.

One of the products, intelligent authentication, adopted face and voiceprint recognition to establish biological files for every client with the company.

By using the technology, the identity and behaviors of insurance applicants or agents can be quickly verified, thus helping avoid possible disputes in selling, according to the company.

Ping An said since put into operation, the proportion of customers who withdraw their application dropped to 1.4 percent, compared with 4 percent with other insurers.

Time taken to settle claims were reduced from three days to 30 minutes, it said.

Also, the technology can cover 90 percent of the procedures involving customer services, which can significantly improve efficiency, it said.

Another product, intelligent quick claim settlement, mainly used in auto insurance sector, can recognize the type of car and degree of damage by reading photos of the scene. It will then calculate the cost of maintenance within a few seconds.

The company settled about 5 million auto-related cases with the technology in the first half of 2017, it said.

And its net promoter score, which measures how many clients recommend the product to others, reached 82 percent.

Ye Wangchun, CEO of Shanghai OneConnect Technology Co Ltd, a financial technology company subsidiary to Ping An, also maker of the two products, said they will share more AI intelligent insurance products with other insurers in the future to serve the healthy development of the industry.

More than 10 insurers signed agreements with Ping An to use the two products, including Manulife-Sinochem Life Insurance Co Ltd and Kunlun Health Insurance Co Ltd.