2021年经济学人 平安--变形计(5)（在线收听）

Meanwhile, Ping An's approach is being put to the test. When covid-19 first struck in January the company was a year into restructuring its life-insurance business. That involves improving its force of over 1m agents, who are still the main channel for insurance sales in China. The country's insurers are not only battling among themselves for talent, they are also fighting off new entrants. "We are competing with the tech companies too," says Jason Yao, another co-ceo. Companies with their own financial technologies, such as Ant Group, have launched rival insurance offerings.

与此同时，平安的做法正受到考验。今年1月，当新冠首次爆发时，该公司已对其人寿保险业务进行了一年的重组。这涉及到提高其超过100万名代理的能力，这些代理仍是中国保险销售的主要渠道。中国的保险公司不仅在彼此之间争夺人才，他们也在击退新进入者。“我们也在跟科技公司竞争，”另一位联席首席执行官贾森·姚表示。拥有自己金融技术的公司，如蚂蚁金服，也推出了与之竞争的保险产品。

The AI-powered recruitment and training tool has been one of Ping An's top solutions. It appeared to be working in 2019, when the value of new business per agent in the company's life-insurance division rose by a healthy 16.4% compared with the previous year. The gauge fell by almost as much in the first half of 2020. Analysts say that rivals in China have fared even worse. But the risk, says one consultant, is that the effectiveness of some of Ping An's tech solutions may have been overestimated because of rapid growth in the insurance industry in China at the time. A prolonged downturn could show that some of its tech is less effective than first thought.

人工智能招聘和培训工具一直是平安的顶级解决方案之一。2019年似乎起了作用，该公司人寿保险部门每个代理人的新业务价值较前一年大幅增长了16.4%。该指标在2020年上半年的跌幅几乎与此相当。分析人士表示，中国的竞争对手表现更糟。但一位咨询师表示，风险在于，由于当时中国保险业的快速增长，平安一些科技解决方案的有效性可能被高估了。长期低迷可能表明该公司的一些技术不如最初想象的那么有效。

Another threat comes from leadership changes. In part, these reflect Ping An's position on the tech frontier, which has led rivals to sniff around its executives. Ericson Chan, chief executive of Ping An Technology, was poached in September by Zurich, another insurer. Lee Yuan Siong, Ping An Insurance's chief executive, took over as the boss of aia, a Hong Kong-based insurer, this year. The loss of the pair has been a blow to the group. More could follow.

另一个威胁来自领导层的变动。这在一定程度上反映了平安在科技前沿的地位，导致竞争对手四处打听其高管。今年9月，平安科技首席执行官陈智威被另外一家保险公司苏黎世挖走。今年，平安保险首席执行官李元祥接任了香港保险公司友邦保险的总裁一职。失去这两个人对该集团是一个打击，可能会有更多人效仿。

Questions also hang around the future of Mr Ma, who is 65 this year. He stepped down as group chief executive in July, prompting industry watchers to expect him to retire soon. But he continues to call the shots as chairman, and there is no talk of succession planning yet. Were Mr Ma to depart, some worry that Ping An's rapid rise would come to a swift end. "There's only one person driving innovation," says a consultant. For all its use of machines, Ping An is still subject to key-man risk.

今年65岁的马云的未来也存在一些问题。今年7月，他辞去了集团首席执行官一职，促使行业观察人士预计他很快就会退休。但他继续担任董事长，目前还没有讨论继任计划。一些人担心，如果马云离开，平安的快速崛起将很快结束。“只有一个人在推动创新，”一位顾问说。尽管平安使用的都是机器，但它仍然面临着“关键人员风险”。