On 28 January, China Re Group convened the working conference for 2019 in Beijing. At the conference, with the guidance of Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the spirit of 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Central Economic Working Conference, China Re Group elaborated on the in-depth meaning of China Re’s high quality development approach, systematically reviewed the Group’s achievement on transformation and development in 2018, and made arrangement and plans for key working tasks in 2019.

　　Looking back at 2018, in response to the complicated and capricious development situation in China and abroad, China Re fully strengthened the leading function of the Party and facilitated the implementation of national strategies with the powerful support from the shareholders and regulatory authorities, and made concerted efforts in tackling the three major challenges of innovation, synergies and fission. As a result, great progress was made in implementation of the “One-Three-Five” strategy with eight major highlights in transformation and development. Firstly, the Group transformed and developed under the leadership of the Party, and provided support for the poverty alleviation in Salar Autonomous County in Qinghai Province, which is the first ethnic minority-inhabited area that gets rid of poverty in China. Secondly, we secured many leading positions in the industry. In particular, our market ranking in terms of premium income in reinsurance sector improved, and the domestic market ranking of China Continent Insurance improved from the sixth place to the fifth place. Thirdly, with structural optimization, the position of our reinsurance business as the main channel was further strengthened. Fourthly, we successfully acquired Chaucer Insurance Group in the United Kingdom, which is the largest cross-border acquisition of major business by state-owned insurers in China, which marked a new milestone for the global development of China Re Group. Fifthly, to further enhance our capital strength and absorb advantages from different parties, China Continent Insurance successfully introduced strategic investors with financing amount of RMB10,672 million, which was the largest case of non-listing equity financing in P&C insurance sector in recent years. Also, China Re P&C and China Re Life issued the capital supplementary bonds in an amount of RMB4 billion and RMB5 billion respectively, which injected new growing momentum. Sixthly, to continuously upgrade the “catastrophe management ecosystem”, we established the first fintech company with focus on catastrophe risk management in China and launched the first earthquake catastrophe model with proprietary intellectual property in China. We also expanded our “strategic partners ecosystem” by entering into strategic cooperation agreements with 17 major companies which contributed to the continuous expansion in our scope of cooperation and industry coverage. In addition, to continuously develop our “global friends’ circle”, we entered into memorandums of cooperation with leading insurers in 29 “Belt and Road” countries which expanded the coverage of our overseas cooperation network to 122 countries and regions and facilitated positive business breakthrough. Seventhly, we adopted technology-driven approach and fully implemented the “China Re Digital” strategy, which led China Re into the technology-driven era. The transition to cloud-based infrastructure in reinsurance sector was basically completed, IDI platform commenced operation, and “Somersault Cloud” (筋斗雲) was successfully launched, which is the first P&C insurance core business system under the “Private Cloud + Microservices” structure in the world. Eighthly, the value of China Re was reflected in the increased market capitalization, improved result of cultural and brand promotion, continuously strengthened cohesion within the Group and enhanced brand recognition.

　　Based on the latest national and industrial requirements, Mr. Yuan Linjiang, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Board of Directors of China Re Group, proposed that, under the background of China’s transition to high quality economic development, China Re Group shall continuously pursue high quality development, that is, to take Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guidance, fully implement the “One-Three-Five” strategy, serve the country with reinsurance function, efficiently facilitate the implementation of national strategies and actively promote the innovation and upgrade of the industry through platform-based, technology-driven and globalized operation, adhere to the customer-oriented idea, enhance the efficiency in providing products and services, increase the benefit from development and diversify the growing momentum, thereby facilitating China Re Group in becoming a world-class diversified reinsurance group with sustainability and core competitiveness.

　　The year of 2019 is critical to China Re Group in the implementation of the “One-Three-Five” strategy and the acceleration of transitioning to a high quality improvement. Mr. Yuan Linjiang, our Chairman of the Board of Directors, pointed out that China Re Group shall carry out transformation and development under the guidance of Party-building work, take platform-based, technology-driven and globalized operation as the strategic focuses, accelerate the Group’s transition to high quality development, and achieve stable growth of the Group’s overall value. He specifically proposed certain development requirements in three aspects: firstly, to accelerate the implementation of platform-based operation with focus on the establishment of eight major platforms, namely, “Belt and Road” platform, catastrophe management platform, insurance community platform, business innovation platform, asset and liability balancing platform, strategic collaboration management and control platform, strategy study and major innovation platform and strategic partner platform; secondly, to accelerate technology-driven operation with focus on five major aspects, namely optimizing the top layer design of technological innovations, accelerating the development of “China Re Digital”, transiting from reinsurance to primary insurance, utilizing technology to facilitate the implementation of the “Three New Focuses” strategy and strengthening the development of technology ecosystem; thirdly, to facilitate globalized operation with focus on five major aspects, namely, integrating Chaucer after acquisition, improving the ability in management and control of globalized operation, coordinating and facilitating the establishment and development of overseas entities, continuously improving the utilization of overseas capital and facilitating and integration and development of cross-border business.

　　Mr. Yuan Linjiang, our Chairman of the Board of Directors, emphasized that we shall carry out all tasks within the Group for the benefit of China Re’s transition to a high quality development, keep the bottom line in mind, and put efforts in preventing and mitigating different risks.

　　At the conference, Mr. He Chunlei, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and President of China Re Group, delivered the annual operation report, summarized the operation management of China Re Group in 2018, thoroughly studied and determined the market situation, opportunities and challenges, and specified the overall operation direction and operation target of 2019. He pointed out that China Re Group’s accelerated transition to high quality development followed the direction of national strategies and the market trend, and was necessary for bolstering areas of weakness and facilitating long-term development. In 2019, China Re Group shall adhere to the general principle of “making progress while keeping performance stable”, make reference to market benchmarks, provide effective insurance services, adhere to the risk compliance bottom-line and the operation concept of “Three NOs”, coordinate and carry out the operating tasks of “maintaining growth, optimizing structure and increasing benefits”, endeavor to strengthen, optimize and expand business operation, and facilitate the Group’s transition to high quality development. He also identified nine major operation tasks, namely implementing platform-based operation, implementing technology-driven operation, implementing globalized operation, promoting refined management, facilitating the transition and growth of P&C reinsurance section, putting efforts in structural optimization of life reinsurance section, strengthening and expanding the P&C primary insurance sector, increasing contribution from asset management and investment and making innovative development in insurance intermediary business.

　　Mr. Zhang Hong, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of China Re Group, presided over and concluded the conference. In the conclusive speech, he proposed that in 2019, all staff at different levels shall have faith in the Group, dare to take responsibilities, take initiative at work, facilitate the implementation of the “One-Three-Five” strategy, endeavor to contribute to the high quality development of China Re Group, and celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China with outstanding performance.

　　The heads of China Re P&C, China Re Life, China Continent Insurance, China Re AMC, Huatai Insurance Agency and the Strategic Customer Department of the Group Company also delivered annual operation reports of their respective entities at the conference. Members of the party committee, the board of directors, board of supervisors and president’s office, representatives of shareholders, leaders of subsidiaries, senior deputy managers and higher management of the Group Company, heads of overseas offices and certain retired employees of the Group attended the conference, and other employees participated through video conference.