眾安保險計劃用區(qū)塊鏈技術顛覆雞肉供應鏈

An insurance company in China is looking to shake up the country’s chicken supply chain — using blockchain technology.

中國一家保險公司正在尋求利用區(qū)塊鏈技術來撼動中國雞肉供應鏈。

ZhongAn Online Property & Casualty Insurance, launched in 2014 with the backing of Alibaba payments affiliate Ant Financial, Tencent and Ping An Insurance, quickly grabbed attention with peculiar products such as a “binge drinking” policy that paid out if Chinese fans got drunk during football matches and suffered alcohol poisoning.

眾安在線財產保險股份有限公司(Zhong An Online Property and Casualty Insurance，簡稱眾安保險)創(chuàng)辦于2013年，由阿里巴巴(Alibaba)旗下的支付關聯公司螞蟻金服(Ant Financial)、騰訊(Tencent)和平安保險(Ping An Insurance)出資創(chuàng)辦，憑借“喝高”險(如果購買該保險的中國球迷在觀看足球比賽時喝醉并發(fā)生酒精中毒，該保險將進行賠付)等特殊產品迅速抓住眼球。

The company’s assets have ballooned since, more than doubling in 2017 to Rmb21.2bn ($3.3bn), its annual report showed this week.

該公司的資產自創(chuàng)辦起迅速增加。根據眾安保險本周公布的年報，2017年其資產總額同比增長超過一倍，達到212億元人民幣(合33億美元)。

Last year the online-only insurer raised $1.5bn in a Hong Kong listing that was the world’s first “insurtech” public offering and attracted Japan’s SoftBank as a cornerstone investor. Insurtech companies try to use technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain to simplify insurance products and make them more accessible.

去年，這家只有線上平臺的保險商在香港上市融資15億美元，成為全世界首支公開發(fā)行的“保險科技”股，吸引了日本軟銀(SoftBank)成為基石投資者。許多保險科技公司都試圖利用人工智能和區(qū)塊鏈等技術來簡化保險產品，使之更平易近人。

Like many groups in China, ZhongAn has rapidly diversified away from its original business. One of its latest projects, GoGo Chicken, takes aim at China’s chicken supply chain — a trial run before ZhongAn eventually rolls out the technology to other applications.

正如中國很多企業(yè)一樣，眾安保險迅速在原有業(yè)務之外實現多元化發(fā)展。其最新項目之一“步步雞”(GoGo Chicken)瞄準了中國的雞肉供應鏈——這是眾安保險最終把該技術推廣至其他用途之前的一次試驗。

The company uses tracking devices and facial recognition technology to follow the movement of free-range chickens, from hatching to packaging, on hundreds of farms across China. Poultry are fitted with tracking devices on their legs and the data are logged using a blockchain ledger — an unalterable record that underlies cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

該公司利用跟蹤設備和面部識別技術來追蹤中國各地數百家農場飼養(yǎng)的走地雞從雞苗到上市售賣的全過程。步步雞的腿上裝有跟蹤設備，利用區(qū)塊鏈賬簿記錄數據。區(qū)塊鏈賬簿的記錄無法更改，構成了比特幣等加密貨幣的基礎。

Customers can download an application on to their smartphones that allows them to track a chicken’s route to the supermarket, and provides access to the bird’s life history along with charts showing its level of activity.

在智能手機上下載應用后，顧客就能在應用中查看步步雞從農場到超市的全部歷程，并通過顯示其活動水平的圖表來了解這只雞的成長軌跡。

Using an incorruptible blockchain record to track the origin of food in China could help address some of the country’s perennial food safety problems, said Francis Tang, ZhongAn’s chief financial officer. China has been repeatedly rocked by scandals in which dangerous food products have made it on to supermarket shelves.

眾安保險首席財務官Francis Tang表示，在中國，利用無法造假的區(qū)塊鏈記錄來追蹤食物來源，有助于解決一些食品安全頑疾。中國已經多次受到危害人體的食品出現在超市貨架上的丑聞沖擊。

“They [the farmers] want to sell these free-range chickens at a higher price but a lot of people don’t know if this is really a free-range chicken,” Mr Tang said. Francis Tang稱，“他們(農戶)希望以高一些的價格出售走地雞，但很多人不知道自己看到的是不是真的走地雞。”

ZhongAn’s technology, said Mr Tang, “shows you exactly where it [a chicken] has been” and whether hormones or other harmful elements have been introduced along the way.

他表示，眾安保險的技術“向你展示它(雞)的準確生長過程”，以及在這一過程中是否使用激素或其他有害物質。

The company’s foray into China’s food supply chain underlines the nature of ZhongAn: it has always considered itself a tech company first and insurance group second.

該公司進軍中國食品供應鏈的舉動，突顯了眾安保險的本質：它始終首先認為自己是一家科技公司，其次才是保險公司。

Analysts have expressed scepticism about ZhongAn’s insurance business. The company this week posted a net loss of about Rmb1bn for 2017, which management blamed on regulations requiring it to set aside reserves for a growing pool of longer-term products.

分析人士對眾安的保險業(yè)務表示了疑慮。該公司本周公布的年報顯示，其2017年凈虧損約10億元人民幣，管理層把虧損原因歸咎于其長期業(yè)務比例增加，應監(jiān)管部門要求計提的未到期責任準備金也相應增加。

The company sold 5.3bn policies last year to 432m customers, roughly a third of China’s population, solely via online distribution — an unheard of achievement for a traditional insurer. But to distribute its products the company is highly reliant on partnerships with other online companies, whose fees have eroded the thin margins on ZhongAn’s low-cost policies.

去年，該公司完全通過線上渠道向4.32億客戶(約為中國人口的三分之一)出售了53億份保單——這對于傳統(tǒng)保險商而言是前所未聞的成就。但是，該公司的產品分銷高度依賴與其他網絡公司的合作關系，而相關費用侵蝕了眾安低價保單的微薄利潤。

ZhongAn was also forced last year to refund about Rmb500m in investment products, Mr Tang disclosed, after Chinese regulators banned them as part of a crackdown last year on short-maturity, high-yield wealth management products.

Tang透露稱，去年，在中國監(jiān)管部門為打擊高收益短期理財產品而叫停投資型保險后，眾安保險還被迫為相關產品退還了約5億元人民幣。