Aerial photo taken on Sept. 11, 2020 shows the city view of Shenzhen, in south China's Guangdong Province. Photo:Xinhua

 
The first round of "digital yuan insurance policy" has been issued in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, according to media reports, marking the use of digital yuan in China's insurance industry for the first time. 

The Shenzhen subsidiary of Pingan Property Insurance working with the Bank of China branch in Shenzhen, issued the first batch of "digital yuan insurance policy" recently, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported on Tuesday.

This particular insurance targeted medical workers in Nanshan district, which will provide medical workers with 300,000 yuan ($4,6221.40) compensation if an insured medical worker died as a result of COVID-19, 50,000 yuan allowance if a medical worker is diagnosed with COVID-19, and 50,000 yuan compensation for accidental death, per media reports, adding that applicants are eligible for exclusive preferential allowance if applicants use the digital yuan wallet to make payments. 

The issuance of such insurance policies marks the insurance industry's pilot application of digital yuan to the online insurance fee settlement scenario, which has promoted the application of digital yuan in people's daily life, according to Shenzhen Special Zone Daily. 

The Pingan Property Insurance will further explore the application of digital yuan in insurance claims, payment, and other aspects, and continue to expand the use of digital yuan in the insurance industry to more application scenarios, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported, citing the person in charge of Pingan's Shenzhen subsidiary. 

In mid-October in 2020, when China commenced public testing of the digital yuan in Shenzhen, the local government and China's central bank jointly gave away 50,000 digital red packets each containing 200 yuan. It was the first time that the digital currency was tested in a public setting.

Global Times