New China Life Insurance Company Ltd. (NCI) has been honored with the "Outstanding Fintech Innovation Service" award at the 2026 Golden Stone Awards for its "Virtual Counters: Empowering High-Quality Development with Digital Finance" initiative. The awards, organized by Sina Finance, recognize excellence in financial consumer protection and innovation.
Facing the longstanding challenge of balancing cost, efficiency, and risk control—often termed the "service impossibility triangle"—amid an aging population and the digital economy, NCI launched its Virtual Counters project in 2025. This initiative leverages digital technologies such as video interaction, facial recognition, and e-signatures to connect customers with remote agents via mobile devices, enabling fully online policy services. The project overcomes hurdles in digitizing complex transactions, creating a seamless online service loop and effectively resolving the service triangle dilemma.
The Virtual Counters focus on customer needs for convenience, efficiency, and peace of mind through technological innovation, process redesign, and operational transformation.
First, by combining remote interaction with intelligent security measures, the service eliminates physical barriers, allowing zero-threshold access. Using real-time audio-video communication integrated with facial recognition, e-signatures, and OCR technology, it offers face-to-face remote assistance. Customers can connect via smartphone anytime, anywhere, with full-process recording ensuring traceability and security. A distributed microservices architecture supports easy maintenance and future scalability.
Second, the cloud-based platform streamlines procedures, drastically reducing processing time. Over 40 policy services can be completed online in about 10 minutes, regardless of the customer's location—domestically or abroad. A specialized team of virtual agents follows standardized procedures and training, boosting daily service capacity to more than three times that of traditional counters.
Third, a dual-track system combining national and provincial coordination ensures seamless channel integration. The Virtual Counters work in tandem with physical branches and digital platforms like WeChat, apps, websites, and SMS, forming a tripartite service model. This hybrid approach balances standardization with local customization, optimizing resource allocation and service efficiency.
Key outcomes include a significant reduction in processing time, cutting average service duration from 20 minutes to about 10 minutes—a 50% improvement. Customers enjoy on-demand service without branch visits, leading to satisfaction rates consistently above 99%.
Accessibility has been greatly enhanced, advancing financial inclusion by bridging the last mile. The service is barrier-free and comprehensive, enabling customers, including those in remote areas, overseas, or elderly users with limited tech proficiency, to receive quality assistance equivalent to in-person service. It also addresses regional disparities in branch resources.
Operational costs have been substantially lowered, with savings exceeding CNY 20 million to date. Full implementation is projected to save over CNY 85 million annually. Meanwhile, all-session recording and smart verification strengthen risk control and consumer protection, delivering cost reduction, efficiency gains, and enhanced security.