Annual reports from the five major A-share listed insurers for 2025 have all been released, revealing a clear strategic shift: amid a prolonged low-interest-rate environment and narrowing returns on fixed-income products, leading insurers are uniformly placing dividend insurance at the forefront. Data shows that in 2025, China Life saw floating-return products account for nearly 50% of its first-year regular premium income. Pacific Life Insurance reported that dividend insurance made up half of its new regular premium business. PING AN's life and health insurance division recorded dividend insurance scale premiums of 91.887 billion yuan, surging over 40% year-on-year. New China Life Insurance also saw the proportion of dividend insurance in its overall regular premium business rise quarter by quarter, reaching 77% in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Industry experts view these figures as indicative of a transition from "rigid payouts" to "profit-sharing." Dividend insurance, with its "guaranteed base plus floating returns" structure, is becoming a new pillar for insurers on the liability side. Against the backdrop of persistently low interest rates, listed insurers accelerated their business transformation in 2025, prioritizing floating-return products like dividend insurance.
According to PING AN's results, dividend insurance scale premiums within its life and health insurance segment hit 91.887 billion yuan, a 41.28% increase. Pacific Life Insurance emphasized driving growth in floating-return products, with dividend insurance new regular premiums soaring and its share in new regular premiums rising to 50%, reaching 61.4% within the agency channel. This rapid growth underscores rising consumer acceptance of dividend insurance.
The "principal safety with floating returns" feature of dividend insurance precisely meets the needs of savers with moderate risk appetites. Analysts note this is why the industry is optimistic about insurers capturing funds shifting away from deposits, as stable returns have become increasingly scarce. New China Life Insurance stated in its 2025 report that it focused on enhancing product competitiveness and fully launched its dividend insurance transformation, achieving 11.933 billion yuan in first-year premiums for long-term dividend policies. The proportion of dividend insurance in regular premium business climbed each quarter, hitting 77% in Q4 2025.
The growth trajectories of dividend insurance across insurers outline active product structure adjustments. Why has dividend insurance become an industry consensus? According to Wang Peng, Deputy Researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, the core drivers are risk hedging and profit-sharing. In a low-interest-rate era, insurers use the floating-return mechanism of dividend insurance to share investment pressures appropriately with clients, mitigating interest spread risks from rigid payouts and strengthening liability-side resilience.
The popularity of dividend insurance relies on dual support from both bancassurance and agency channels. In bancassurance, dividend insurance has become the dominant product. Recent observations show bank financial advisors increasingly recommending this "floor with upside" product to customers. China Life's data for 2025 reveals bancassurance total premiums reached 110.874 billion yuan, exceeding the 100-billion-yuan mark, up 45.5% year-on-year. New single premiums hit 58.506 billion yuan, a 95.7% increase, with dividend insurance's share rising about 15 percentage points.
Wang Peng notes that channels are not just sales paths but value filters. Bancassurance leverages bank customers' inherent preference for wealth management, enabling low-cost, efficient reach and accelerating both scale and value. The agency channel, as a core driver, relies on professional agents to explain complex floating-return logic through in-depth communication, forming the foundation for customer loyalty and long-term policy maintenance. The other part of the combined strategy is the sustained effort in the agency channel. PING AN's Deputy General Manager and CFO Fu Xin stated that dividend insurance accounted for about 30% of the agency channel's business in 2025. China Life reported that dividend insurance's share in first-year regular premiums via the agency channel jumped to nearly 60%, becoming a key support for new premiums.
Transformation remains ongoing for listed insurers. At New China Life's 2025 results briefing, President and CFO Gong Xingfeng stated the company will continue deepening its dividend insurance transformation in 2026, focusing on broadening product types, boosting sales of dividend annuities, and strengthening innovation. The company will capitalize on policy incentives for dividend health insurance, enhance product suitability management, and ensure appropriate products are sold to suitable clients, avoiding mis-selling and improving customer satisfaction. PING AN also plans to make dividend insurance its core product for 2026, with its business share expected to rise further.
It is important to note that as guaranteed interest rates decline, dividend insurance is replacing traditional fixed-return products as the key offering for the "start-of-year peak season." However, the "guaranteed plus floating" return mechanism demands higher explanatory skills from agents. Pre-existing demand depletion has further complicated sales. Before the rate reduction policy took effect, many customers already purchased products like increasing whole life insurance, increasing the sales challenge for dividend insurance. Some industry insiders suggest it may take 3–5 years for dividend insurance to fully establish its upgraded status.
Amid the rising popularity of dividend insurance, agents must enhance their product interpretation and communication skills. This includes clearly explaining the return logic, risk characteristics, and differences from other financial products to help clients set reasonable expectations. Wang Peng believes the core of selling savings insurance like dividend products lies in "precise matching," ensuring product features align with clients' risk tolerance and avoiding false promises. Additionally, insurers must strengthen their investment capabilities, as sales confidence stems from back-end investment performance. Only stable profitability can support dividend expectations. To avoid competing solely on price, companies should transform insurance from a "bare contract" into a comprehensive ecosystem offering "protection plus pension/healthcare" services, enhancing product competitiveness.
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