海外巨额人寿保单让中国富人感到安全

For wealthy Chinese, a big overseas life-insurance policy might be the ultimate security blanket.

对于中国有钱人来说，最让他们感到安全的可能是一张海外巨额人寿保单。

Worried that their hard-won fortunes could evaporate in a downturn or be wiped away by an arbitrary act of government, Chinese businesspeople have begun to embrace insurance. A slowing economy has boosted their newfound appreciation.

中国商人担心辛苦赚到的资产在经济下行周期中蒸发，或是被政府的有形之手掳去。经济放缓的事实，也使得他们对保险更感兴趣。

'I have come across some high-net-worth people who wanted to buy as much as $100 million worth of life insurance,' said Harrison Ho, head of wealth management at Nomura in Hong more common policy size for mainland Chinese high-net-worth clients is $10 million″still large by insurance standards in the rest of the world. The megapolicies are so big that insurance companies band together to reduce their risks, according to insurance brokers in Hong Kong.

野村证券香港私人银行部董事总经理何乐生说，他曾经遇到过一些大陆高净值人士想要买价值高达一亿美元的人寿保险。有香港保险经纪称，中国高净值人士更常见的保单金额是1000万美元，按照世界上其他国家的标准，这也是很高的金额。这些保单价值高到保险公司都不愿一家承担，要分到几家以分散风险。

While large life-insurance policies can be expensive and offer modest returns, they fill the financial needs of some wealthy Chinese. They act as a conservative investment to offset riskier ones and they can be an effective way to get cash offshore, while at the same time performing their base function of providing for a family if the policy holder dies.

高额保险不仅贵，提供的回报也不高，但对富有的中国人来说，它具有特定的功能。作为一种保守的投资，其能够帮助他们平衡高风险的投资，也不失为把现金转移到海外的一种有效办法，同时又具有投保人过世后给家人提供保障的基本作用。

For Chinese business owners, there are additional reasons why these policies can make sense. Their businesses often carry lots of debt, and lately they have been struggling with the combination of rising input costs and sluggish overseas demand. If a company fails, owners could be on the hook, but life insurance is protected if companies are liquidated. That's a real possibility in some highly competitive industries. After the Wenzhou debt crisis erupted in 2011, about 30 businessmen fled the country and another one committed suicide.

对于中国商人来说，还有其他原因使这些高额保险有它的用武之地。他们的生意往往有很多债务，近来很多老板受要素成本上升和海外需求疲软的困扰。如果公司倒闭，企业主会有麻烦，但就算公司被清盘，他们的人寿保险还是不受影响。这种情况在中国部分激烈竞争的行业相当普遍。2011年温州债务纠纷发生后，大约有30个商人逃出中国，还有一人跳楼身亡。

Another reason for wealthy Chinese to buy big insurance policies is their age. The average Chinese millionaire is just 39 years old, a full 15 years younger than the average millionaire in the United States, according to Chinese research firm Hurun. That means they often have younger families, so big-ticket items such as education are yet to be paid.

中国有钱人喜欢买高额保险还有一个原因是他们的年龄。据胡润的数据，中国百万富翁（以美元计算）的平均年龄只有39岁，比美国要小15岁。这意味着他们家庭成员的年纪还小，一些支出大头比如子女的教育费用还需要支付。

There are good reasons to buy life insurance offshore in Hong Kong, where insurers have been hiring mainland agents to boost their business. Offshore policies offer an annual return up to 4%, compared with 2.5% in mainland China, where the government has in the past capped interest rates to protect the margins of insurers. That's only slowly starting to change.

在境外买保险有它的好处，香港的保险公司正在招募大陆背景的经纪人来提升销售。境外销售的保险产品的回报可以达到4%，而在中国大陆销售的产品的回报为2.5%。过去中国政府对保险产品的利率有上限，以保护保险公司的利润率，这种情况直到现在才慢慢发生转变。

A study of two comparable life-insurance policies offered by AIA in China and Hong Kong shows that mainland customers pay 48% more in premiums for the same amount of insurance. If they surrender the policy after 20 years, mainland customers get 26% less cash than their Hong Kong peers.

通过比较中国大陆和香港的友邦保险提供的两个类似保单可以看出，为了获得相同的保障金额，大陆的客户缴纳的保费要高出48%。如果在20年后退保，大陆的客户拿到的现金也比香港的要少26%。

The two plans aren't exactly the same, but insurance brokers and agents in both Hong Kong and mainland China say they are similar. AIA stated that because the insurance coverage under these products is different and they are written in different currencies, they are not directly comparable.

这两张保单并非完全一样，但在中国大陆和香港的多位保险经纪和顾问认为，它们具有比较价值。友邦保险则认为，这两种保险产品有所不同，它们的货币单位也不一样，所以没有办法直接拿来做比较。

One reason for the difference is that insurance companies get low returns in China, so they can pass on less to consumers. Another is China is a riskier place to offer life insurance because of less-than-healthy lifestyles, pollution and food scares, which are reflected in premiums. In fact, margins in the two markets are not that different, according to Kevin Strain, president of Canadian insurer Sunlife Financial Asia.

产生如此巨大差别的一个原因可能是保险公司在中国大陆获得的投资回报更低，所以他们也没办法给客户太高的回报。还有一个原因是中国大陆对保险公司来说是个高风险的市场，因为中国人的生活方式不算太健康，还有空气污染和食物中毒等各种因素，所以有必要提高保费。其实对保险公司来说，香港和大陆的利润率是差不多的，加拿大永明金融亚洲总裁Kevin Strain说。

Another reason to buy insurance overseas is that it is easier to borrow against the policies offshore, which flatters returns. Using their policy as collateral, buyers can borrow at a rate of about 2% from private banks in Hong Kong and get returns of 4% a year from the policy.

还有一个在海外买保险的理由是，更容易以保单作抵押借便宜的钱，这对提高回报是有好处的。在香港，买家可以以一年2%的成本从私人银行借到钱，而投资在保单上可以获得一年4%的回报。

For those who want to pay in full, they can also borrow against their policy and invest in higher-yielding products. Banks are willing to lend cheaply against insurance policies, which have cash value and are more liquid than properties. The strategy is less attractive when interest rates are higher.

那些全款买保险的人，也可以把保单做抵押，再借出钱来，买一些高息产品。银行一般比较乐意接受保单为抵押品，因为它们有现金价值，比房产等流动性强。不过利率上升后，这种策略就没有那么大吸引力了。

Buying policies offshore also has its catches. Some medical plans don't cover mainland China. Currency movement is another risk. For those big policies, a medical examination is mandatory. Few Chinese businesspeople pass physical tests without any red flags such as high cholesterol levels, insurance brokers say. Chinese businesspeople often pay 7% to 10% more than people in Singapore or Taiwan, brokers said.

在海外买保险也有其问题。比如有些医疗计划并不包括中国，汇率波动也是一个风险。对于高额保险来说，体检是必需的。保险经纪说，中国有钱人很少能够没有任何问题地通过体检，常见的毛病包括胆固醇偏高之类。中国商人往往要比新加坡和台湾的投保人多给出7%到10%的保费以弥补他们身体的缺陷。

But Chinese buyers often have age on their side. The same $1 million policy is a lot cheaper to buy at age 35 than it is for 50-year-olds.

但中国买家的优势在于年轻。同样一份100万美元保额的保险，在35岁的时候买要比在50岁的时候买便宜得多。

One life insurance benefit that drives sales in the U.S. is the strategy of using the tax-free proceeds from the policy to pay estate taxes. China currently doesn't have an estate tax, but the country is mulling one, so it isn't a bad idea to plan early. While jumbo insurance policies won't offer exciting returns, richer Chinese have unique reasons to like them now.

在美国，人寿保险卖得好的一个原因是财产继承人可以用免税的保险金来支付遗产税。中国目前没有遗产税，但正在酝酿这个新税种，所以早点计划起来并非坏事。高额人寿保险不会带来让人惊喜的收入，但有钱的中国人有理由现在就开始喜欢它们。