Ping An School of Financial Services Formally Opened
A Focus for the Development
of China’s Insurance Professionals
Ping An School of Financial Services Formally Opened
May 26, 2006, Shenzhen - Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. (“Ping An” or “the Group”; HKSE: 2318) announced the formal opening of the Ping An School of Financial Services, marking the 18th anniversary of the Group’s inception. As one of the largest scale corporate training centres in China, this “Breeding Ground of Talent” comprising RMB 450 million in investment, will further enhance Ping An’s competitive edge in its human capital.
“Human resources are the fundamentals, while training lays the foundation,” Mr. Ma Mingzhe, Chairman of Ping An remarked. “The China Insurance Regulatory Commission has always regarded the development of professional talent as the priority of priorities in the industry’s development, and Mr. Wu Ding Fu, Chairman of the Commission, has stressed on numerous occasions that the key to growth of the insurance industry is human resources. The Ping An School of Financial Services was established under the guidance and support of the Commission. The School will adhere to the principle of converting knowledge into value, fulfill the company’s business development needs, enhance customer loyalty, establish education principles under the corporate brand, with determination to become a corporate university recognized by the global and national financial communities within five years.”
The construction of the Ping An School of Financial Services was completed in three years, comprising a total area of 200,000 square metres, with total gross area amounting to 78,000 square metres. Housing a variety of distinctive classrooms, seminar rooms and conference halls, the institution accommodates up to 900 students. Encompassing the College of Life Insurance, the College of Property and Casualty Insurance, the Finance College, the College of Management, and the post-doctorate workstation, it provides personal training, certified examinations, online learning, satellite teaching schemes and other learning programs for both front line and back office staff. Currently, the school has a division of nearly 800 management training lecturers (including 56 honoured lecturers), helping Ping An’s junior, middle and senior management personnel to enhance their professional knowledge and management skills. Through learning methods such as content lectures, role plays, work applications, results feedback, students are able to apply flexibly their newly-acquired knowledge and skills to practical work-related situations.
“The core objective of the school is to become Ping An’s centre for knowledge and for nurturing professional talent, helping staff to convert knowledge into value, and providing a continual drive for Ping An’s long term development,” said Mr. Ku Minshen, Ping An’s Chief Human Resource Officer. Since Ping An’s inception, Ping An’s professionals have been embraced by the market and its training programs have been regarded as one of its key strengths. Ping An has adhered to the business philosophy of “Ping An provides the best training”, with a commitment to converting knowledge into company value, and making the nurturing of professional talent as the company’s core competitive edge. To this end, Ping An has maintained a level of staff training comparable to leading enterprises worldwide. In 2006, Ping An has set its sights on “Challenging New Heights”, stepping up on its integrated financial strategies as the demand for integrated financial service professionals increases, marking the timely establishment of the Ping An School of Financial Services. Mr. Ku expressed that the School will play a significant role in the Group’s strategic planning and resource allocation, encompassing a knowledge management platform where knowledge is shared and value was maximized, while nurturing and allocating suitable human resources for the Ping An when needed.
Ms. Yang Siule, Deputy General Manager of Ping An and Associate Dean of Ping An School of Financial Services emphasized that as the “Nurturing Ground” for Ping An staff, the core competency of the Ping An School of Financial Services is the innovative and comprehensive course structures. Currently, the institute has trained junior lecturers, lecturers and senior lecturers of amounting to 3,000 teaching staff in total. The School offers comprehensive courses which cover 5 main topics including management/ leadership skills, financial services, vocational training, internet skills and customer services. It cooperates with internationally renowned institutions such as LIMRA, LOMA, AICPCU, Wharton Business School, Peking University and other domestic tertiary institutions for course development and training which emphasizes the exploration of staff potential, knowledge management, generic skills and communications skills with customers.
As the training base for Ping An staff and named “Our University” by employees, the teaching facilities and study environment is comparable with other corporate institutes in Asia. The designs and facilities of lecture rooms have reached the standard of top tier business schools; not to mention the multimedia teaching interface, state-of-the-art conference equipment, interactive lecture rooms, simultaneous interpretation facilities, satellite communications system for video conference and more. In addition, with gross area of about 1,500 square metres which is covered by wireless LAN communications system and about 100 LAN connectors, as well as 220 seats in the reading area, the library has over 10,000 books and about 100 magazines of various kinds. Together with over 100,000 e-books and e-magazines, the “libraries” provide rich resources and references for students.
Ping An School of Financial Services is not only a training school for Ping An staff, but also a communications platform between the Ping An and the customers. As resources are becoming abundant, the School will offer courses for VIP customers and strategic partners as a value added services in the near future. The courses will cover wealth management, disaster prevention and protection, etc. In 2006, the School is going to launch new measures for the course designs; with the objective of enhancing staff performance through a series of assessment and development system. In addition, the School will also design courses for the development of management/ leadership skills and providing “comprehensive financial services”.
Ping An School of Financial Services is moving ahead to the next level. Mr. Jiang Hongkuang, Associate Dean of Ping An School of Financial Services stated, “Ping An is committed to making Ping An School of Financial Services as a top tier corporate university in Asia and training base for finance and insurance professionals in the next 5 – 8 years. It is expected to be a platform for knowledge sharing and value maximization; in addition, the School will be the solid base for human resources development and sustain our competitive edge in human capital.”
