Chinese insurance giant Pingan issued insurance policies using the digital yuan in Shenzhen, pushing trials for the central bank digital currency further into the financial services sector.
Pingan's local subsidiary has developed a COVID-19 insurance plan for medical staff in Shenzhen's Nanshan district. Users who pay their premiums in e-CNY can receive discounts, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported . The policy covers 300,000 yuan ($46,342) for death by the coronavirus, 50,000 ($7,723) yuan for a COVID-19 diagnosis, and 50,000 yuan for accidental death. While this is not the first time the digital RMB has been tested in the insurance sector, it is likely the first time an e-CNY insurance trial has been open to the public. In December 2020, local media reported that whitelisted digital yuan trial participants could use the digital yuan to buy insurance on Zhongan's app. This trial was conducted in collaboration with China Construction Bank. Pingan will continue trialing the use of the digital yuan in insurance payments and claims settlement, a person familiar with the matter told Shenzhen Special Zone Daily. China's digital RMB has so far been tested in a variety of retail scenarios, such as merchant payments and metro systems, as well as payrolls. As of the end of June, 34.5 billion yuan ($5 billion) had been processed in 70.75 million digital yuan transactions, the People's Bank of China said last week.

This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform.