Cash rebates for account opening and commission rebates for insurance purchases, with a maximum rebate of up to 30%: It is high time to put a stop to the illegal "volume boosting" practice in the personal pension sector.

"Get a ¥800 cash rebate for opening an account and making a deposit", "Get a cash rebate ranging from ¥1,000 to ¥3,000 when purchasing specific insurance products" ... Recently, reporters from National Business Daily (hereinafter referred to as NBD reporters) found that many practitioners are promoting personal pension account opening and specific insurance products on social platforms with extremely high cash rebate amounts.

"Open a personal pension fund account — make a deposit — purchase designated insurance products" has formed a complete industrial chain. After adding an intermediary, he said straightforwardly: "I can recommend you to open a personal pension fund account, or you can find the 'benefit' of account opening by yourself, then come to me to buy insurance products, so you can get two 'benefits'." The reporter learned that the total income from the two "benefits" can reach thousands of yuan.

As the core arrangement of the "third pillar" of the endowment insurance system, personal pension is a key link for China to cope with population aging and build a multi-level and multi-pillar endowment insurance system. The personal pension system started pilot operation in November 2022 and was fully implemented in December 2024, and it has been nearly 4 years since then. Why has "account opening, deposit making, product purchase" become a business? What is the actual situation of cash rebates for account opening and insurance product purchases online? NBD reporters launched an in-depth investigation on this issue.

Open a personal pension account and make a deposit, with a maximum cash rebate of ¥800

"You can get a ¥800 cash rebate immediately after opening an account and making a deposit, with direct transfer and no need to purchase any products." On social platforms, many practitioners are obviously in a hurry, constantly asking "Have you added the contact information?" "Are you processing the personal pension account?"

What on earth is the "cash rebate"? Under the pretext of consulting about account opening, the NBD reporter added multiple promoters who promote opening personal pension accounts with cash rebates, trying to figure out the truth behind it.

The reporter learned from consultation that directly opening a personal pension account and depositing 12,000 yuan can get a minimum cash rebate of hundreds of yuan, with the maximum rebate reaching 800 yuan. If you purchase designated insurance products, you can get even higher cash subsidies.

"We handle the process on a certain bank's App. You need to fill in my employee number during the process, deposit 12,000 yuan after opening the account, and you will get an 800-yuan subsidy. I will send you the processing procedure." The people who chatted privately with the reporter have similar scripts. However, some said that "you can get direct cash or instant discount bonus after opening an account and making a deposit, no need to buy products"; others indicated that "you can only get the cash rebate after purchasing designated insurance products".

After adding several account opening promoters, the reporter got to know the account opening process. "Download a certain bank's App, search for 'personal pension', click quick account opening, then follow the prompts to operate. When the 'outlet marketing code' pops up in the middle, fill in the employee number I sent you (it is actually the marketing outlet code), send me a screenshot for confirmation, and then follow the process to finish the operation." One of the promoters told the reporter.

Seeing that the reporter did not operate for a long time, the promoter asked: "Are you there? Will you process it? If not, I will give the quota to others." After learning that the reporter could not operate temporarily, he said: "Contact me when you are ready to process, I will send you a new one, this employee number will be full once the quota is used up."

Later, an intermediary pulled the reporter into a "pension benefit group", and the group specified transferring money to a certain group member several times in the group, with a cash rebate of 750 yuan.

So, will you get a cash rebate for opening a personal pension fund account and making a deposit at a bank? The NBD reporter consulted multiple banks offline, and all of them replied "no cash rebate". Some banks provide WeChat instant discount bonus or lottery opportunities for depositing a certain amount of money.

A staff member at a branch of Agricultural Bank of China said: "There are only WeChat instant discount bonuses, no cash rebates." A staff member at a branch of China Construction Bank said: "You can get a 100-yuan WeChat instant discount bonus for depositing 1,000 yuan, and you can draw up to 380-yuan WeChat instant discount bonus for depositing 12,000 yuan." A staff member at a branch of China Merchants Bank said: "When you deposit money into a personal pension account in our bank, you can draw a cash red envelope through lottery, with a random amount up to 288 yuan."

In fact, opening a personal pension fund account and making contributions to the account can enjoy the national deferred tax preferential policy. At the contribution stage, the contributions made by individuals to their personal pension fund accounts can be deducted from comprehensive income or business income according to the annual limit of 12,000 yuan.

Take the Agricultural Bank of China App as an example. The reporter entered the personal pension interface and saw that when the annual pre-tax income is 100,000 yuan, depositing 12,000 yuan into the personal pension fund account can save an estimated 640 yuan in tax every year; when the annual pre-tax income is 300,000 yuan, depositing 12,000 yuan can save an estimated 2,400 yuan in tax every year.

Image source: Screenshot of Agricultural Bank of China App

Get benefit from account opening first, then get benefit from insurance purchase, the two "benefits" can reach thousands of yuan

The NBD reporter noticed that opening a personal pension account and making a deposit, as well as purchasing specific insurance products, has formed an industrial chain where intermediaries promote specific insurance products through "cash rebates".

"After the personal pension account is opened, you can consider purchasing corresponding products, such as commercial endowment insurance, or fixed income products, which is equivalent to an ultra-long-term bank deposit, but the return of commercial endowment insurance is significantly higher; you can get a 2000-yuan red envelope, no city restrictions, the process can be done online." Through the introduction of promoter Zhang Ming (pseudonym), the reporter learned that there is no cash rebate for opening a personal pension account through him, and you can only get cash rebate after buying insurance products after opening the account. "You can get the bank's account opening benefit first, then come to me to buy products, so you can get two benefits. First come, first served, no waiting for latecomers."

This means that if operated properly, you can get the account opening benefit first (maximum 800-yuan cash rebate), then get the product purchase benefit (1000-yuan to 3000-yuan cash rebate), the total maximum amount of the two benefits can reach 3800 yuan, which is about 30% of the insured amount (12000 yuan).

Zhang Ming said: "I can recommend you to open a personal pension account, or you can find the account opening benefit by yourself." He then pushed an intermediary who provides cash rebates for account opening and deposit, who claimed that "you can get a 750-yuan cash rebate for opening an account and making a deposit".

"The most recommended one is this insurance product, which is equivalent to a long-term bank deposit, but its yield far exceeds that of banks. Its advantage is that its yield is leading among peers in the insurance industry, and the yield is locked for life. Actuaries estimate that bank interest rates will show a downward trend in the future. By purchasing our product, the whole family can enjoy the attached medical services before, during and after consultation." The three pictures shown by Zhang Ming show that the highlights of the product include "enjoy tax preferential policies, save up to 5400 yuan per year", "six types of initial receiving ages, four types of receiving methods" and so on.

The reporter noticed that the insurance product recommended by Zhang Ming is an endowment annuity insurance from a certain insurance company. "This is our best-selling product, and personal pension is our advantageous product." Zhang Ming said.

Later, Zhang Ming sent the above endowment annuity insurance clause reading guide to the reporter, which shows that the product provides survival and death protection. The annual insurance premium is 12,000 yuan, the payment period is 20 years, and it also lists information such as the basic insurance amount, the starting date of endowment pension receiving, the receiving method of endowment pension, and the expiration date of endowment pension receiving.

"Make a deposit after opening the account, then connect to the endowment insurance product, and I will give you 1000 to 3000 yuan as rebate." Another practitioner told the reporter that the endowment insurance product he is connecting to is also the aforementioned endowment annuity insurance product. "Deposit the personal pension money in the bank, then use the money deposited in the bank to buy this product, I can make a project plan for you."

During the investigation, the NBD reporter noticed that the insurance products with "cash rebate for product purchase" mentioned by intermediaries include not only endowment annuity insurance, but also personal pension endowment insurance from a certain insurance company.

"I see you have the demand to deposit personal pension, do you consider buying insurance products? You can get a 1500-yuan red envelope. The money you deposit in the account does not generate interest, the amount you withdraw is the same as the amount you deposit, but you can use the money to buy products. The product I am talking about has an interest rate of about 3%. After you make the deposit and buy the product, I will give you the red envelope personally." Another intermediary told the reporter, after purchasing the insurance product, you can receive a 500-yuan to 1500-yuan red envelope given by him personally. He emphasized: "If you only deposit money, no matter how much you deposit or how long you deposit, there will be no return, but if you buy products, you can choose different cycles and get interest, and the final return will be written into the contract."

When the reporter questioned the identity of this intermediary, he said he had an employee number of the insurance company, and sent a signed "Insurance Agent Insurance Agency Contract" to prove his identity, repeatedly emphasizing the authenticity of his identity.

Image source: Photo provided by the respondent

Industry insiders: Commission can reach more than 40%, salespeople can still make profits after giving cash rebates

"Those who give you cash rebates are all liars." Li Min (pseudonym), who claims to be engaged in the insurance industry, told the NBD reporter, "You can open a personal pension fund account in any bank, the point is what product to invest the 12,000 yuan every year."

In the following conversation, Li Min focused on sharing her views on "what products to invest in" with the reporter.

"As the name suggests, personal pension is money for retirement and old-age care. The first choice must be products that are absolutely safe and will not lose principal, since the money cannot be withdrawn for decades. The first choice should be products with stable interest rates and long-term steady appreciation." According to Li Min's introduction, there are 4 types of products available for investment at present.

"Demand deposits or time deposits are safe, but their interest rates are declining; bank wealth management products are not safe, and there are risks after the rigid redemption is broken; funds are not safe and have high risks." Finally, Li Min introduced a supposedly safe annuity insurance, which can get a 1.75% determined predetermined interest rate plus dividends. You can receive the money in a lump sum when you reach retirement age, or receive it in installments over 20 years.

"Stocks or funds may lose money, because this kind of investment has no contract to guarantee your principal, but we (insurance) will write your principal plus return, that is, the final income, into the contract." Another intermediary promoting insurance products also kept emphasizing key points such as "capital preservation, return, written into the contract".

So, is the "cash rebate" true? Can the salesperson's commission cover the cost of the cash rebate?

A senior practitioner in the insurance industry put forward several different views on whether you can really get commission rebate and cash rebate after purchasing specific insurance products. He told the reporter: "If the payment period of the insurance product is short, the insurance commission will not be too high. In this case, cash rebate is possible only if there are additional rewards, or there are rigid assessment requirements for the team and individuals."

"If the payment period is 3 years or 5 years, the commission that intermediaries can get ranges from 5% to 15%; if the payment period is 10 years, the commission ranges from 15% to 25%. If the payment period is relatively long, such as 10 years, 20 years or even longer, the commission ratio can reach 20% to 30%, and with rewards it can even reach 40% or more. In this case, salespeople can still make profits after giving commission rebates." The above person added, "However, the commission of personal pension products is still a little lower than most similar ordinary products."

In fact, the personal pension system has been implemented for nearly 4 years, and the product supply is gradually enriched. The National Social Insurance Public Service Platform shows that as of September 24, the number of insurance products, wealth management products, fund products and savings products available for personal pension investment is 551, 39, 323 and 281 respectively, and you can also buy national debt products.

"Cash rebate and commission rebate" turn pension planning into "benefit grabbing", which will lead to the collapse of customer trust

As the core arrangement of the "third pillar" of the endowment insurance system, the importance of personal pension is beyond doubt. Why has "opening account, making deposit, buying insurance products" become a business? Is it because the insurance products are not good? What are the deeper reasons behind it?

In response to this, Long Ge, deputy director of the Research Center for Innovation and Risk Management of the University of International Business and Economics, said in an interview with the NBD reporter: "Personal pension is facing the situation of 'hot account opening, cold deposit, and even colder investment'. Banks and insurance companies turn marketing expenses into account opening red envelopes and product cash rebates in order to boost the number of accounts opened, deposit amount and premium scale. The product itself is not necessarily bad, but the cash rebate indicates that the sales end is relying on expense incentives to boost sales volume, rather than making appropriate recommendations based on customers' tax brackets, liquidity and pension needs."

He emphasized: "This kind of cash rebate is a typical illegal commission rebate phenomenon, which is a common illegal and irregular behavior that financial regulatory authorities focus on."

As for the deep-seated reasons for this situation, Long Ge said bluntly that the root cause is institutional KPI