After Xiaomi entered the automotive industry, it went against the trend to "dabble" in property insurance licenses. What is the value of the synergy effect?

With a document from the Financial Regulatory Bureau, the "gold content" of property insurance licenses has once again attracted market attention.

On October 18, Li Yunze, the director of the Financial Regulatory Bureau, revealed at the Financial Street Forum that approval had been granted for the establishment of Beijing FaBa Tianxing Property Insurance (hereinafter referred to as "Tianxing Property Insurance") by the Groupama SA (hereinafter referred to as "Groupama Insurance") and Volkswagen Financial Services overseas (hereinafter referred to as "Volkswagen Financial").

At that time, there were voices suggesting that the behind-the-scenes driver for the establishment of Tianxing Property Insurance might be the unmentioned Xiaomi Corporation (1810.HK).

This speculation was confirmed in the official approval document released on November 5.

The Financial Regulatory Bureau disclosed that the shareholders of Tianxing Property Insurance, in addition to Groupama Insurance and Volkswagen Financial, also include Sichuan Yinmi Technology (hereinafter referred to as "Yinmi Technology"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xiaomi Corporation.

This is likely another "catfish" targeting the new energy vehicle insurance market.

After October 2023, the "full ecosystem of people, vehicles, and homes" has officially upgraded to a strategy of Xiaomi Corporation; meanwhile, Volkswagen Financial, another shareholder of Tianxing Property Insurance, is also an "old player" among car manufacturers.

The logic behind Xiaomi entering the property insurance market is similar to that of BYD, aiming to address the issues of high premiums and difficulty in insuring new energy vehicles, thereby improving the value chain of car sales, maintenance, warranty, and insurance.

The solvency report revealed that BYD Property Insurance, which was just approved to operate vehicle insurance business in May this year, has achieved insurance business revenue of 546 million yuan in the first three quarters.

Among them, the premium in the third quarter was 478 million yuan, surpassing the annual performance of many small property insurance companies.

This highlights the enormous potential of the "blue ocean" in new energy vehicle insurance and fills the market with expectations for the future value of the joint venture property insurance license within Xiaomi's "full ecosystem of people, vehicles, and homes."

Xiaomi's Entry

Since the tightening of insurance license issuance in 2019, there have been few "big companies" that have obtained an "entry ticket" through the establishment of new companies.

Public information shows that Tianxing Property Insurance is the 91st property insurance company in China and the second insurance company approved for establishment this year, following DongWu Property Insurance (which has not been officially disclosed by regulators).

The shareholder of Tianxing Property Insurance, Yinmi Technology, belongs to Xiaomi Corporation, which was unable to successfully initiate a property insurance company after the tightening of insurance licenses in 2019.

Yinmi Technology was originally named Chengdu Blue Valley Trading.

In September 2015, Xiaomi Technology acquired it and renamed it Yinmi Technology; thereafter, the equity of Yinmi Technology was transferred to Beijing Xiaomi Electronic Software Technology Company, becoming an important part of Xiaomi Corporation's financial sector.

Compared to other "big companies" that have been intensively laying out their financial sectors, Xiaomi Corporation has been somewhat slow, only obtaining its first insurance brokerage license in 2016.

Perhaps due to an initial strategic lag, Xiaomi was unable to successfully obtain a license before the regulatory tightening, and the "property insurance dream" was postponed from 2019 to 2024.

However, during this period, Xiaomi's internet financial business has developed significantly.

As of now, Yinmi Technology has invested in Beijing Houji Insurance Brokerage and Xinwang Bank, and with Tianxing Property Insurance, it has obtained three financial licenses: banking, insurance, and insurance brokerage.

In addition, Xiaomi's financial landscape also includes the launch of the "Tianxing Financial APP" by Shanghai Xiaomi Financial Information Service Company, Tianxing Bank in Hong Kong, Chongqing Xiaomi Consumer Finance, the insurance evaluation agency Deep Blue Insurance, the Indonesian insurtech company PasarPolis, and the insurance service platform Dayu Technology, among others The market generally believes that Xiaomi, which has now entered the auto manufacturing "new forces" with great fanfare, aims to target the "new energy vehicle insurance" blue ocean.

In March 2021, Xiaomi ventured into the new energy vehicle sector; two and a half years later, the group's strategy was officially upgraded to "a full ecosystem of people, vehicles, and homes."

In March 2024, its subsidiary Houji Insurance Brokerage reached a cooperation with CheChe Technology to provide comprehensive service solutions for car owners in cities such as Beijing and Shenzhen.

After the establishment of Tianxing Property Insurance, the market's focus has shifted to the specific ways in which insurance is embedded in the "people, vehicles, and homes" ecological closed loop.

According to reports, Zhang Guowei, the proposed general manager of Tianxing Property Insurance, has previously served at institutions such as PICC, Anbang, Bohai, and Hyundai Property Insurance.

The two shareholders holding 32% of Hyundai Property Insurance, which is the second-largest shareholder, are the hardware "giant" Lenovo and Didi Chuxing's wholly-owned subsidiary DiRun (Tianjin) Technology.

After officially starting operations, Zhang Guowei, who is familiar with the property insurance market and the "big manufacturers," is widely watched to see if he can hit the market's key points and lead the company to win its "first battle."

The Property Insurance Puzzle of the Industry

With central enterprises "withdrawing gold" in recent years and small and medium-sized insurance companies frequently "cooling off" on the auction platform, the valuation of insurance equity has seen a significant decline.

In this environment, the value of insurance company equity has also been marked with a big question mark.

Xiaomi's long-awaited "roundabout" entry seems to further prove that insurance licenses still hold considerable value in the eyes of industry giants.

Xinfeng (ID: TradeWind01) has sorted out the equity changes in the insurance industry association from 2022 to the present and found that industrial capital still maintains enthusiasm for insurance company equity in recent years.

A typical representative is the "new forces" of new energy vehicles.

Data from October's new energy vehicle production and sales show that BYD's sales in October reached a new high of 500,000 units, and Xiaomi's car sales also broke through 20,000 units for the first time in a month.

Previously, BYD had obtained the only wholly-owned property insurance license among car manufacturers in May 2023 and achieved a premium of 546 million yuan in four months this year.

Unlike BYD Property Insurance, the recently approved Tianxing Property Insurance is a joint venture insurance company.

From publicly available information, Tianxing Property Insurance has not yet completed the enterprise name declaration registration and registration with the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the specific equity structure is unknown.

The market generally speculates that Xiaomi's entry this time should be as a shareholder.

Without obtaining controlling rights, Xiaomi Group may not have more flexibility in product design, but it will also benefit from the empowerment and support of mature overseas institutions in its business.

The health industry is another area where synergistic effects can be well leveraged.

Taking Aixin Life Insurance as an example.

In June 2017, Aixin Life Insurance was jointly initiated by Beijing New Mileage Health Group (referred to as "New Mileage Health") and 12 other shareholders.

Since then, New Mileage Health has continued to invest and has become the largest shareholder of Aixin Life Insurance, currently holding a 26.72% stake.

CEO Lin Yanglin has stated in interviews that they "hit it off" with Aixin Life Insurance in exploring the "insurance + medical" model.

New Mileage Health currently owns over 40 hospitals above the second-class level and 30,000 beds, with strategic layouts covering medical care, health maintenance, pharmaceuticals, and insurance, striving to have both medical supply and insurance payment capabilities simultaneously According to reports, the current cooperation between the two parties includes sharing medical data, jointly expanding service processes, and collaboratively building cost control capabilities.

However, the "synergy" does not seem to be directly linked to profitability. Since its establishment, Aixin Life Insurance has only achieved a net profit attributable to the parent of 36 million yuan in 2023, with losses recorded in all other years