Shanghai's wealthy pay 15% of Chinese life insurance premiums

The Bund and its many buildings are one of Shanghai's most photographed sites. [Asianewsphoto by Bao Guoxin]

A total 160,000 people with personal wealth of at least 10 million yuan ($1.57 million) each in Shanghai possess commercial life insurance, with the total annual premium coming in at 6.1 billion yuan, according to a survey jointly released by Taikang Life Insurance Co Ltd and Hurun Report on Tuesday.

The total money that Shanghai rich people with a personal wealth of at least 10 million yuan have invested in life insurance takes up 15 percent of total life insurance premiums in China.

The survey studied 1,119 Chinese people with high net worth, among which 12.7 percent live in Shanghai. The city is now home to the third largest group of high net worth individuals in China. The number of rich people with a personal wealth of at least 10 million yuan grew 22,000 this year to reach 181,000. These people's total assets have amounted to 1.24 billion yuan, taking up 20.5 percent of all the assets possessed by Chinese rich people.

High net worth individuals in Shanghai have a higher willingness to invest in life insurance in the next three years, with 73 percent of them expressing the intention of doing so. Medical insurance comes in second in terms of popularity, with 68 percent willing to invest in it.

However, insurance policies with a premium of 2 million yuan and above each still have a very low penetration rate, reaching only 3 percent among the billionaires in Shanghai. Less than 30 percent of them have some basic understanding of these large-premium policies.

Household annual premiums among rich Shanghai families reached 164,000 yuan, which is 15,000 yuan more than the national average.

Rich people in Shanghai are more willing to try new medical institutions and services in the next three years. Private hospitals will become the most popular medical institution in the future. Some 61 percent of the polled billionaires said they would choose Chinese private hospitals while 58 percent of them prefer those from overseas.

Although private physicians are not that popular at present, the rich people interviewed in China have shown great interest in them, as half say they will start this service within the next three years.

Meanwhile, some 40 percent of the respondents said they will also give overseas medical services and online medical services a chance in the future.