Can a single sentence handle a complex financial transaction? Can claim processes require fewer forms and shorter waits? Can elderly users who struggle with smartphones enjoy the same digital conveniences as everyone else? Can people with disabilities access financial services without unnecessary travel? These seemingly small, everyday questions touch millions of households and represent the "livelihood challenges" that data-driven finance must address as it evolves. As artificial intelligence and big data rapidly integrate into financial service scenarios, services are shifting from bank counters to mobile devices and from manual processing to human-machine collaboration. For consumers, the true measure of digital finance isn't technological complexity—it's whether services become more convenient, protection arrives more promptly, and security is more reliable. It also hinges on whether digital offerings can truly bridge the "digital divide" for seniors and people with disabilities.
In recent years, Ping An has persistently advanced its dual-driver strategy of "integrated finance + healthcare and eldercare" alongside a technology-led approach. The company innovates financial products and services so that complex operations can be handled with a single sentence, promotes elder-friendly and disability-accessible transformations, and shifts insurance services toward early risk warnings and risk reduction. All these changes converge on one central mission—finance for the people.
From "getting it done" to "getting it done fast"—financial services must keep pace with daily life. In everyday scenarios, financial needs often arise suddenly and specifically. A car accident demands swift damage assessment and claim settlement; falling ill abroad requires immediate emergency contact; checking policies or handling transactions may involve navigating multiple pages and function entrances. For consumers, the convenience of financial services is often judged by these very details.
Digital technology is reshaping this experience. Currently, Ping An has consolidated over 300 digital services and built a dedicated financial AI assistant for its 253 million customers. Services that once required users to find entrances and navigate step-by-step can now be accessed through natural language requests. Transactions, financing, claims, as well as healthcare, wellness, and lifestyle services, are linked to more accessible interaction points. This transformation isn't simply about moving offline business online—it reduces the time people spend understanding complex processes and locating service entrances.
The claims process illustrates this best. After an accident, "how quickly can liability be determined and when will funds arrive" are often the top concerns for car owners. Ping An Property & Casualty's "Smart Flash Claims" mechanism leverages AI-based damage assessment for rapid online processing, with small-amount cases settling in as little as 30 minutes. Ping An Life's "111 Ultra-Fast Claims" now determines liability within 60 seconds for 93% of cases, with the fastest payout in just 8 seconds. Processes that previously relied on manual review and multi-level routing are now dramatically compressed by technology.
Service efficiency is also extending to more urgent scenarios. To address emergencies at home or outdoors, Ping An has established a 24/7 global emergency rescue center, accessible via the "SOS One-Button Call" in the Ping An APP and the 95511-9 service hotline. Its partner network spans over 200,000 medical institutions and 600,000 service providers, reaching 233 countries and regions, with the ability to mobilize global rescue resources within 20 minutes.
From handling transactions with a single sentence to accelerating claims and rapidly deploying rescue resources in emergencies, technology ultimately resolves concrete problems in people's lives. Digital finance thus transforms from on-screen features into reachable, always-on service capabilities.
Yet the faster technology advances, the more critical another question becomes: can everyone keep up? For many seniors, small fonts, too many steps, and unclear voice menus can all become barriers. For some people with disabilities, even an ordinary in-person visit may require far more time and effort than for others. The value of digital finance lies not only in making things faster for tech-savvy users but also in ensuring no one is left behind in the digital shift.
Accordingly, while advancing intelligent services, Ping An has not simply retired traditional human support. The 95511 hotline offers priority human-assisted channels for elderly customers, identifying them through caller ID or card numbers and providing tailored services with slower speech, louder volume, and dialect support. Online, the Pocket Bank APP features a one-tap large-text mode with simplified layouts that highlight core functions, lowering the barrier for seniors and visually impaired users.
Physical branches are also changing in tangible ways. Lower counters accommodate wheelchair heights, waiting seats include armrests for easier standing, accessible signage is universally installed, and facilities are stocked with magnifiers, blood pressure monitors, and first-aid kits. Responding to the needs of seniors and people with disabilities, Ping An Bank's "Silver Age Care Harbor" initiative, built on its 3.0 elderly-friendly store model, extends accessibility transformation beyond physical facilities into financial and lifestyle services, spanning both online and offline channels.
For issues that standard processes cannot resolve, service staff take a proactive "step forward." For clients with disabilities facing practical difficulties in claim settlement, staff provide home visits, assist in preparing claim documents, and expedite processing through express channels. Ping An Health Insurance has also launched the "Ping An e-Health Insurance All-Age Edition," addressing the real obstacles disabled individuals face in obtaining medical coverage and broadening inclusive protection.
Digitization does not mean every service must be turned over to machines. Quite the opposite—as intelligence handles more standardized tasks, human service can be reserved for needs requiring patient communication and personalized solutions. Enabling younger users to handle transactions with a single sentence, helping seniors complete procedures more easily, and saving those with mobility challenges extra trips—the speed of technology and the warmth of service connect in these details.
Beyond "paying after a loss," consumers now expect risks to be detected earlier and losses minimized before they occur. Deeper applications of digital technology are extending insurance protection from post-loss compensation to pre-event warnings, risk reduction, and full-cycle services. In agriculture, earlier warnings for typhoons, heavy rains, and hailstorms give farmers precious time to protect their crops. In 2025, Ping An delivered over 56 million online agricultural disaster alerts nationwide, covering 860,000 farming households. This "service before risk" philosophy also extends to healthcare and eldercare scenarios. AI family doctors provide 24/7 medical consultations, while home-based eldercare services proactively manage clients' health. Insurance is increasingly integrated with healthcare, health management, and eldercare services, extending beyond claims to long-term health stewardship and lifelong companionship.
Meanwhile, as financial services digitize, risks themselves are evolving. Illegal rights-protection activities, insurance fraud, and personal information black markets are intertwined, disrupting normal financial order and potentially harming consumers' property and data security. Facing increasingly organized, networked, and professionalized financial "gray and black industries," traditional case-by-case detection methods are being challenged. To counter this, Ping An applies advanced technology for risk identification, uncovering latent risk networks from seemingly isolated cases to safeguard client and company assets. For financial institutions, securing their own data is also the first line of defense. Strengthening client information protection through data classification, access controls, and other measures—reducing the risk of sensitive data theft and misuse at the source—is an indispensable component of digital finance services.
In the current stage of digital finance development, "digitization" is not an end in itself. What truly matters is how AI technology has changed ordinary people's lives. It may mean waiting less after an accident, or finding help faster when stranded overseas. It may be a senior spared from navigating complex voice menus, or a person with disabilities avoiding an extra trip to a branch. It could also be an early warning received before a disaster strikes, sparing a family from greater loss. These changes may seem modest, yet they form the most authentic measure of financial services' impact on livelihoods: ensuring that technology truly serves people, making finance more accessible, more human, and more secure. That is the enduring value of digital finance's progress. Ping An will remain committed to its "finance for the people" mission, continuously deepening the integration of technology, scenarios, and warmth, and using innovative financial products and services to respond to people's aspirations for a better life while supporting high-quality economic and social development.