METHOD AND INSURANCE PLATFORM FOR INVESTMENT-TYPE WHOLE LIFE INSURANCE AT AUTONOMOUS INTEREST RATES

• US 20090089103A1
• Filed: 09/26/2008
• Published: 04/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Shacom.com Inc
• Original Assignee: Shacom.com Inc
• Inventors: LING, Kuen-Bao, CHIEN, Yung-Sung
• Granted Patent: US 8,165,902 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

A method and insurance platform for whole life insurance implemented in the insurance field of financial e-commerce is provided. The present invention reflects the interactivity between a consumer and a platform provider in the age of network technology, and creates an insurance platform to enable the consumer to expand his/her credit on the platform and increase investment opportunities according to his/her own risk preference.

The present invention provides the insurance platform to replace the savings block of the whole life insurance, such that information symmetry is created between an insurance company and the consumer and the closure of the conventional insurance product is broken to enable the insurance products to compete on the active market of financial products.

Claims

1. A method for investment-type whole life insurance at autonomous interest rates, which combines a whole life insurance with a deposit and borrowing mode at autonomous interest rates of an insurance platform to set up an investment-type whole life insurance contract at autonomous interest rates, the method comprising:

a proposer applying for an investment-type whole life insurance at autonomous interest rates to the insurance platform, and an online policy processing and issuing module of the insurance platform instructing the proposer to fill basic information;

the online policy processing and issuing module auditing the basic information filled by the proposer, analyzing a policy condition of the investment-type whole life insurance at autonomous interest rates, and providing an insurance scale combination of the investment-type whole life insurance at autonomous interest rates for the proposer to select according to the basic information of the proposer;

when the proposer accepts the proposed condition and completes selecting the insurance scale combination, the online policy processing and issuing module approving the whole life insurance applied by the proposer, and collecting a premium from the proposer and issuing a policy to the proposer;

the proposer logging in to the insurance platform to participate in a competitive bidding;

the proposer entering a bidding amount into the insurance platform, a deposit and borrowing competitive bidding module at autonomous interest rates of the insurance platform calculating an average deposit interest rate and a borrowing interest rate of the bidding proposer according to the entered bidding amount, and determining a successful bidding amount and a number of successful bidders according to a fund balance of the deposit and borrowing competitive bidding module at autonomous interest rates and the borrowing interest rate of the bidding proposer;

the deposit and borrowing competitive bidding module at autonomous interest rates clearing a total successful bidding amount of the successful bidding proposer according to the successful bidding amount, and clearing a deposit amount of the unsuccessful bidding proposer according to an average borrowing interest rate and a deposit bid bond of the successful bidding proposer, a highest bidding amount of the unsuccessful bidding proposer, or a benchmark interest rate;

the deposit and borrowing competitive bidding module at autonomous interest rates settling and depositing the total successful bidding amount in an investment sub-account of the successful bidding proposer, and settling and depositing the deposit amount in a savings sub-account of the unsuccessful bidding proposer; and

an accident identification and fund appropriation module of the insurance platform determining whether an accident happens to an insurant before or after a whole life insurance payment period expires, so as to appropriate insurance proceeds and a balance of the investment sub-account or the savings sub-account to a beneficiary or appropriate the balance of the investment sub-account or the savings sub-account to the proposer.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the basic information filled by the proposer through a user terminal is a physical status, health, medical record information, life and work attributes of the insurant, employment statuses, income levels, financial statuses of the proposer and the insurant, and relevant information for determining an underwriting condition of the proposer and a risk preference degree of the insurant, and the online policy processing and issuing module stores the information in a database of the insurance platform.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the online policy processing and issuing module analyzes the policy condition to generate a total payment amount, the insurance proceeds, a policy type, and other conditions and contents of the insurance contract covered by the proposer, the step of providing the insurance scale combination of the investment-type whole life insurance at autonomous interest rates by the online policy processing and issuing module comprises analyzing a total payment amount of the policy according to an employment status and a financial status in the basic information of the proposer and generating at least one insurance scale combination for the proposer to select, the insurance scale combination comprises a payment period, a number of competitive bidding sessions, a competitive bidding contribution amount, and the premium to be paid in each of the sessions, and the online policy processing and issuing module stores the policy condition and the insurance scale combination in a database of the insurance platform.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the online policy processing and issuing module issues the policy as well as an account and a password to the proposer, the proposer enters the account and the password through a user terminal to log in to the insurance platform so as to participate in the competitive bidding, and the online policy processing and issuing module stores the policy as well as the account and the password in a database of the insurance platform.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the deposit and borrowing competitive bidding module at autonomous interest rates calculates an amount that all unsuccessful bidding proposers should deposit at a bid opening time point minus a total successful bidding amount of all successful bidding proposers at this time point, and stores the total successful bidding amount in a database of the insurance platform;

the deposit and borrowing competitive bidding module at autonomous interest rates determines whether the fund balance at a previous bid opening time point plus the fund balance at this bid opening time point is smaller than or equal to zero, and stores the calculated fund balance in the database;

the deposit and borrowing competitive bidding module at autonomous interest rates calculates the borrowing interest rates according to the bidding amount of the bidding proposer and a bid bond of the selected insurance scale combination read out from the database, sorts the borrowing interest rates of all the bidding proposers, and stores the borrowing interest rates in the database; and

the deposit and borrowing competitive bidding module at autonomous interest rates determines the successful bidding amount and the number of the successful bidders according to the fund balance and the borrowing interest rates of the bidding proposers read out from the database, and stores the successful bidding amount and the number of the successful bidders in the database.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the investment-type whole life insurance contract at autonomous interest rates refers to that the proposer can log in to the insurance platform through a user terminal and select to participate in the competitive bidding in a payment period after the proposer covers the insurance.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein a policy payment period is the same as a competitive bidding period of the insurance platform, and the proposer can participate in the competitive bidding of the insurance platform in case that the proposer pays the premium in each session.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein before the proposer wins the bid, the deposit amount of the proposer is deposited in the savings sub-account and an interest is calculated;

after the proposer wins the bid, all funds are deposited in the investment sub-account and an investment management is performed until the policy payment period expires; and

if the proposer does not win the bid or participate in the competitive bidding when the policy payment period expires, all the deposit amount is deposited in the savings sub-account upon the expiration of the policy payment period.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the accident identification and fund appropriation module determines whether an accident happens to the insurant before the whole life insurance payment period expires;

if an accident happens to the insurant before the whole life insurance payment period expires, the accident identification and fund appropriation module appropriates the insurance proceeds and the balance corresponding to the investment sub-account or the savings sub-account of the proposer to the beneficiary;

the accident identification and fund appropriation module terminates the investment-type whole life insurance contract at autonomous interest rates of the proposer;

if no accident happens to the insurant before the whole life insurance payment period expires, the accident identification and fund appropriation module determines whether an accident happens to the insurant after the whole life insurance payment period expires;

if an accident happens to the insurant after the whole life insurance payment period expires, the accident identification and fund appropriation module appropriates the insurance proceeds and the balance corresponding to the investment sub-account or the savings sub-account of the proposer to the beneficiary;

the accident identification and fund appropriation module terminates the investment-type whole life insurance contract at autonomous interest rates of the proposer;

if no accident happens to the insurant after the whole life insurance payment period expires, the accident identification and fund appropriation module determines whether the proposer applies for the balance corresponding to the investment sub-account or the savings sub-account of the proposer through a user terminal;

if the proposer applies for the balance corresponding to the investment sub-account or the savings sub-account of the proposer, the accident identification and fund appropriation module appropriates the balance corresponding to the investment sub-account or the savings sub-account of the proposer to the proposer;

the investment-type whole life insurance contract at autonomous interest rates is kept valid;

when an accident happens to the insurant, the accident identification and fund appropriation module appropriates the insurance proceeds to the beneficiary; and

the accident identification and fund appropriation module terminates the investment-type whole life insurance contract at autonomous interest rates of the proposer.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the accident identification and fund appropriation module identifies that the insurant is dead, totally disabled, or accords with a cause of an insurance amount payment, so as to appropriate the insurance proceeds and the balance corresponding to the investment sub-account or the savings sub-account of the proposer to the beneficiary.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein if the accident identification and fund appropriation module determines that still no accident happens to the insurant after the whole life insurance payment period expires, the proposer may select to apply for all or a part of the balance corresponding to the investment sub-account or the savings sub-account of the proposer to the accident identification and fund appropriation module.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

investing and managing the funds of the investment sub-account, and an investment management operation module of the insurance platform publishing an investment objective, an investment profit and loss, and a net asset value corresponding to an investment of the investment sub-account through the user terminal, and storing the information in the database.

13. An insurance platform for investment-type whole life insurance at autonomous interest rates, to which a proposer is connected through a user terminal, the insurance platform comprising:

an online policy processing and issuing module, for accepting an application of the proposer for an investment-type whole life insurance at autonomous interest rates, receiving and auditing basic information filled by the proposer through the user terminal, analyzing a policy condition of the investment-type whole life insurance at autonomous interest rates and providing an insurance scale combination of the investment-type whole life insurance at autonomous interest rates for the proposer to select according to the basic information of the proposer, and collecting a premium from the proposer and issuing a policy to the proposer when approving the investment-type whole life insurance at autonomous interest rates applied by the proposer;

a deposit and borrowing competitive bidding module at autonomous interest rates, for the proposer to enter a bidding amount through the user terminal to calculate an average deposit interest rate and a borrowing interest rate, determining a successful bidding amount and a number of successful bidders according to a fund balance of the deposit and borrowing competitive bidding module at autonomous interest rates and the borrowing interest rates, clearing a total successful bidding amount according to the successful bidding amount, clearing a deposit amount according to the average borrowing interest rate and a deposit bid bond, a highest bidding amount, or a benchmark interest rate, settling and depositing the total successful bidding amount in an investment sub-account, and settling and depositing the deposit amount in a savings sub-account; and

an accident identification and fund appropriation module, for determining whether an accident happens to an insurant before or after a whole life insurance payment period expires, so as to appropriate insurance proceeds and a balance of the investment sub-account or the savings sub-account to a beneficiary or appropriate the balance of the investment sub-account or the savings sub-account to the proposer.

14. The insurance platform according to claim 13, further comprising:

a database, for the online policy processing and issuing module to access the basic information of the proposer, the policy condition, the insurance scale combination, and other information, for the deposit and borrowing competitive bidding module at autonomous interest rates to access the bidding amount, the average deposit interest rate, the borrowing interest rate, the fund balance, the successful bidding amount and the number of the successful bidders, the deposit bid bond, the highest bidding amount, the deposit amount, the total successful bidding amount, the investment sub-account, the savings sub-account, and other information, and for the accident identification and fund appropriation module to access the accident identification, the fund appropriation, and other information.

15. The insurance platform according to claim 13, further comprising:

an investment management operation module, for publishing, through the user terminal, an investment objective, an investment profit and loss, and a net asset value of an investment of the invested and managed funds of the investment sub-account, and storing the information in the database.

16. The insurance platform according to claim 13, wherein the basic information filled by the proposer through the user terminal is a physical status, health, medical record information, life and work attributes of an insurant, employment statuses, income levels, financial statuses of the proposer and the insurant, and relevant information for determining an underwriting condition of the proposer and a risk preference degree of the insurant, and the online policy processing and issuing module stores the information in the database.

17. The insurance platform according to claim 13, wherein the online policy processing and issuing module analyzes the policy condition to generate a total payment amount, the insurance proceeds, a policy type, and other conditions and contents of the insurance contract covered by the proposer, the step of providing the insurance scale combination of the investment-type whole life insurance at autonomous interest rates by the online policy processing and issuing module comprises analyzing a total payment amount of the policy according to an employment status and a financial status in the basic information of the proposer and generating at least one insurance scale combination for the proposer to select, the insurance scale combination comprises a payment period, a number of competitive bidding sessions, a competitive bidding contribution amount, and the premium to be paid in each of the sessions, and the online policy processing and issuing module stores the policy condition and the insurance scale combination in the database.

18. The insurance platform according to claim 13, wherein the online policy processing and issuing module issues the policy as well as an account and a password to the proposer, the proposer enters the account and the password through the user terminal to log in to the insurance platform so as to participate in a competitive bidding, and the online policy processing and issuing module stores the policy as well as the account and the password in the database.

19. The insurance platform according to claim 13, wherein the deposit and borrowing competitive bidding module at autonomous interest rates performs the following steps:

calculating an amount that all unsuccessful bidding proposers should deposit at a bid opening time point minus a total successful bidding amount of all successful bidding proposers at this time point, and storing the total successful bidding amount in the database;

determining whether the fund balance at a previous bid opening time point plus the fund balance at this bid opening time point is smaller than or equal to zero, and storing the calculated fund balance in the database;

calculating the borrowing interest rates according to the bidding amount of the bidding proposer and a bid bond of the selected insurance scale combination read out from the database, sorting the borrowing interest rates of all the bidding proposers, and storing the borrowing interest rates in the database; and

determining the successful bidding amount and the number of the successful bidders according to the fund balance and the borrowing interest rates of the bidding proposers read out from the database, and storing the successful bidding amount and the number of the successful bidders in the database.

20. The insurance platform according to claim 13, wherein the accident identification and fund appropriation module performs the following steps:

determining whether an accident happens to the insurant before the whole life insurance payment period expires;

if an accident happens to the insurant before the whole life insurance payment period expires, appropriating the insurance proceeds and the balance corresponding to the investment sub-account or the savings sub-account of the proposer to the beneficiary;

terminating the investment-type whole life insurance contract at autonomous interest rates of the proposer;

if no accident happens to the insurant before the whole life insurance payment period expires, determining whether an accident happens to the insurant after the whole life insurance payment period expires;

if an accident happens to the insurant after the whole life insurance payment period expires, appropriating the insurance proceeds and the balance corresponding to the investment sub-account or the savings sub-account of the proposer to the beneficiary;

terminating the investment-type whole life insurance contract at autonomous interest rates of the proposer;

if no accident happens to the insurant after the whole life insurance payment period expires, determining whether the proposer applies for the balance corresponding to the investment sub-account or the savings sub-account of the proposer through the user terminal;

if the proposer applies for the balance corresponding to the investment sub-account or the savings sub-account of the proposer, appropriating the balance corresponding to the investment sub-account or the savings sub-account of the proposer to the proposer;

keeping the investment-type whole life insurance contract at autonomous interest rates valid;

when an accident happens to the insurant, appropriating the insurance proceeds to the beneficiary; and

terminating the investment-type whole life insurance contract at autonomous interest rates of the proposer.

21. The insurance platform according to claim 20, wherein the accident identification and fund appropriation module identifies that the insurant is dead, totally disabled, or accords with a cause of an insurance amount payment, so as to appropriate the insurance proceeds and the balance corresponding to the investment sub-account or the savings sub-account of the proposer to the beneficiary.

22. The insurance platform according to claim 20, wherein if the accident identification and fund appropriation module determines that still no accident happens to the insurant after the whole life insurance payment period expires, the proposer may select to apply for all or a part of the balance corresponding to the investment sub-account or the savings sub-account of the proposer to the accident identification and fund appropriation module.