OREANDA-NEWS. November 19, 2013. In 2013, the number of people above 60 years old in China may exceed 200 million, and we are facing the attack of “silver-white tide” suddenly. Recently, a number of hot topics regarding old-age care such as pension finance and retirement age rise attracted great attention from all circles.

In fact, all commercial banks have made relevant arrangements.

Industrial Bank (IB), which released “Enjoyable Life”, the first pension finance program in China as early as May 2012, officially announced the news of upgrading the program in Haikou, offering more special services with rich contents for the aged customers.

This signifies that the first pension finance program in China has entered the age of 2.0.

Forthgoing Arrangements for Pension Finance
On September 6, the State Council issued the “Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Old-age Care Services”, in which, in addition to the further reinforced leading role of government in the guarantee of old-age care, it is also specified to bring into full play the basic role of market in allocation of resources and enable social forces to become the main players in the old-age care services step by step. Some insiders point out that the promulgation of the Opinions gives a strong signal that the government intends to break through the “all-controlled” pattern and encourage social capital to play a main part in the market of old-age care services.

In addition, it is estimated in the report “Countermeasures for Medium- and Long-term Risks of China's Asset-liabilities” released in 2012 that the gap of pension in China would reach RMB 18.3 trillion by 2013. Under the impact of the aging population, the social pooling account of pension in China will impose a great burden to the national treasury, and market-oriented tools including pension finance are encouraged.

In fact, as early as May 2012 IB released “Enjoyable Life”, the first pension finance program in China, which, taking it as starting point to care and serve the senior citizens, targets at serving the aged customers and offers all-round professional services to them in the aspects of health, insurance, law, and wealth management. Since its launch, relevant officer of IB indicates, the program has served a total of more than 200,000 customers within a period as short as more than a year. In upgrading the “Enjoyable Life” pension finance program in all-sided manner, IB is committed to building the top brand of pension finance in China and providing a broader perspective for the development of China's pension finance.

It is introduced that, after this upgrading, IB will, start from building a pension finance platform, improve the two systems for financial products and rights and benefits of the aged customers, integrate exclusive wealth management, credit loan, convenient settlement, and value-added service, and issue the Pine & Crane Card – the special wealth management card for the aged customers, as the carrier for relevant products and services enjoyed by the customers of “Enjoyable Life”. In the aspect of special wealth management, IB will issue exclusive wealth management products for the customers of “Enjoyable Life” meeting the demands of the aged for steady investment, which are characterized by low risks and high returns. In the aspect of credit loan, it will provide the aged customers with credit loans for travel and medical care. In the aspect of convenient settlement, it will mainly provide them with deposit security guarantee, convenient payment procedures, preferential service at outlets, and emergency withdrawal needs. In the aspect of value-added service, it may provide a variety of old-age care services including club activities, public benefit oriented activities, medical treatment and health care, insurance and legal consulting, vacation and entertainment, thus enabling the aged customers to enjoy basic psychological pleasure and meet their life needs.

As pointed out by some analysts, how to help the aged to increase the value of their capital effectively and to ensure the sustained improvement of their living quality should be covered in a sound pension finance program. The targets of financial products and the system of rights and benefits provided by the “Enjoyable Life” of IB are just set at the two areas, and it is hopeful to combine the two in a perfect manner.

Settling the Problem of Chinese-style Old-age Care

Now, the Chinese-style old-age care is confronted with great difficulties, and the “Enjoyable Life” pension finance program is trying to solve all of them one by one.
 
First, Chinese people are still in confrontation with the embarrassing situation of “getting aged while not becoming rich”, especially “getting aged while not making preparations”. Now, most Chinese people are still inclined to the old-age care based on savings rather than that based on investment. In this regard, some insiders point out that, during the process of reserving, we cannot depend on pension contributions only, but rolling investment with the reserved pension so as to increase value by making use of the compound interest principle. A variety of tools including fund, real estate, bank savings and insurance may be employed to help individuals in their old-age care, and the capital can be brought into play to the largest extent through combining and matching.

On that basis, IB has elaborately customized the exclusive wealth management product named “Enjoyable Old-age Care Wealth” for the customers of “Enjoyable Life” to fully meet the investment appeal of the aged customers characterized by low risks and high return, so as to help such customers to increase the value of their capital in a steady way. Meanwhile, IB has also made active exploration in the aspect of financing service for old-age care. It is said that IB provides the customers of “Enjoyable Life” with the service of credit loans for travel and medical care. Such loans can be applied by customers themselves or their adult children, requiring no mortgage and guarantee. With an amount reaching up to RMB 300,000 and a loan term up to three years, such loans can meet the temporary financial needs of the aged customers.
Next, now the “421” family pattern gradually becomes prevalent in our society, and the mobility of population is greatly intensified. As a result, migrants for non-local old-age care witness significant increase in number. Against this background, the contact of senior citizens with the society after retirement reduces significantly.

As a result, their psychological needs can hardly be met and their daily living quality will also drop greatly. Considering the above problems, the “Enjoyable Life” value-added services of IB after upgrading will meet the psychological and life needs of the aged customers in an all-round manner with six measures, namely “Enjoyment of the Elderly”, “Contribution of the Elderly”, “Medical Care for the Elderly”, “Insurance for the Elderly”, “Care for the Elderly” and “Support for the Elderly”, so as to further improve their living quality. Specifically, “Enjoyment of the Elderly” means that the Bank will establish the “Enjoyable Life” clubs in different areas across China and build the rights and benefits platforms including painting and calligraphy, Taichi (shadowboxing), music and singing, parent-child education, and appreciation so as to enrich the life of the senior citizens. “Contribution of the Elderly” means that, in collaboration with the institutions and organizations for the elderly in different areas, the Bank will provide a broader platform for the aged customers to exercise their specialities to make contribution to the society and realize their life value. “Medical Care for the Elderly” means that the Bank will customize special medical care and health management program for the aged customers of “Enjoyable Life”. “Insurance for the Elderly” means that the Bank will provide exclusive services including property insurance, personal accident insurance and legal consulting. “Care for the Elderly” means that, working together with many famous old-age care services institutions at home, the Bank will provide high-end non-local leisure and old-age care services for the aged customers.

At abroad, finance based old-age care is a relatively pervasive model for the care of the senior citizens, but it just starts in China. Some insiders point out that, essentially, pension finance is a market-based service tool, a type of old-age care approach helpful to improve the living quality of the elderly, and also an important supplementation for the social insurance system and old-age care services led by the government. It has a broad market prospect. Programs of pension finance like “Enjoyable Life” will, no doubt, have a market of great potential in the area.

the future, IB indicates, it will continue paying attention to developments in the policies on old-age care, continue adhering to the concept of “Growing Together with Sincere Service”, bring into lay its professional advantages in the area of integrated financial service, endeavor to perform social responsibilities, and keep improving the “Enjoyable Life” pension finance program, so as to assist the senior citizens to improve their living quality in the late life.