The 2025 annual reports of China’s listed insurers have been fully disclosed, revealing the financial performance of major players including China Life Insurance, Ping An Insurance, People's Insurance Company of China, China Pacific Insurance, and New China Life Insurance. Data shows that the combined net profit attributable to shareholders of the five leading insurers exceeded 420 billion yuan in 2025, marking a year-on-year increase of over 20%. New business value also achieved positive growth across the board, with several companies reporting growth rates exceeding 30%. Solvency adequacy ratios remained well above regulatory minimums.
This performance reflects a trend of "steady progress and innovation-driven transformation." Stability is evident in operational results and risk management, while progress is seen in structural optimization and value enhancement. Innovation is reflected in product transformation, channel reforms, and new approaches to supporting national strategies.
Net Profit Surpasses 420 Billion Yuan In 2025, the five major listed insurers delivered impressive results.
China Life Insurance’s total premium income exceeded 700 billion yuan for the first time, reaching 729.887 billion yuan, an increase of 8.7% year-on-year. Its net profit attributable to shareholders reached 154.078 billion yuan, up 44.1% year-on-year, ranking first among the five A-share listed insurers in both scale and growth rate.
Ping An Insurance reported a net profit attributable to shareholders of 134.778 billion yuan, a 6.5% increase year-on-year. Its operating profit attributable to shareholders stood at 134.415 billion yuan, up 10.3% year-on-year. Operating profit, which excludes short-term investment fluctuations, better reflects core profitability. Ping An’s steady growth in this metric demonstrates its operational resilience across economic cycles.
People's Insurance Company of China recorded a net profit attributable to shareholders of 46.646 billion yuan, rising 8.8% year-on-year. China Pacific Insurance reported a net profit attributable to shareholders of 53.505 billion yuan, up 19.0% year-on-year.
New China Life Insurance achieved a net profit attributable to shareholders of 36.284 billion yuan, an increase of 38.3% year-on-year. Its total investment yield reached 6.6%, ranking among the highest in the industry.
In terms of solvency, the core solvency adequacy ratios of all five insurers were significantly above regulatory requirements: China Life at 128.77%, Ping An Insurance at 160.7%, People's Insurance Company of China at 201.3%, China Pacific Insurance at 206%, and New China Life Insurance at 135.11%, indicating strong risk resilience.
Overall, the five insurers demonstrated improvements in both scale and quality across premium income, profitability, and risk management, reinforcing the foundation for high-quality development in the industry.
Structural Changes Behind Profit Growth Behind the profit figures lies a profound transformation taking place within the insurance sector.
On the product side, as interest rates continue to decline, traditional fixed-income products face risks of negative interest spreads. All five insurers are actively promoting floating-income products such as participating insurance.
Participating insurance, with its "guaranteed return plus floating return" model, provides customers with basic protection while allowing them to share in investment gains. It also helps reduce insurers’ rigid liability costs. In 2025, this transformation accelerated significantly: participating insurance accounted for 50% of China Pacific Insurance’s new regular-premium policies, with the proportion reaching 61.4% in the agency channel. New China Life Insurance stated in its annual report that its transition to participating insurance had achieved phased results, with participating insurance accounting for 77% of its regular-premium business in the fourth quarter of 2025. At China Life Insurance, floating-income business accounted for nearly 50% of first-year regular premiums.
New business value grew across all five insurers. China Life reported 45.752 billion yuan, up 35.7% year-on-year; Ping An Insurance reported 36.897 billion yuan, up 29.3% year-on-year; China Pacific Insurance reported 18.609 billion yuan, up 40.1% year-on-year; New China Life Insurance reported approximately 9.8 billion yuan, up 57.4% year-on-year; and PICC Life reported 8.229 billion yuan, up 64.5% year-on-year (on a comparable basis). The shift toward participating insurance is proving to be an effective strategy for the industry in a low-interest-rate environment.
In terms of distribution channels, data shows that the bancassurance channel of major insurers achieved leapfrog growth in new business value: Ping An Insurance’s bancassurance new business value increased by 138.0% year-on-year; China Pacific Insurance’s bancassurance new business value grew 102.3% to 6.743 billion yuan (comparable basis); PICC Life’s bancassurance new business value rose 102.3% to 4.672 billion yuan (comparable basis); New China Life Insurance’s bancassurance new business value increased by 110.2% year-on-year; and China Life Insurance’s total bancassurance premiums exceeded 100 billion yuan, reaching 110.874 billion yuan, up 45.5% year-on-year. Faced with narrowing net interest margins, banks are eager to expand non-interest income, while insurers leverage bank networks to efficiently reach customers. This "mutual pursuit" is reshaping the bancassurance ecosystem.
In 2025, the total investment assets of the five insurers continued to expand, further increasing support for national strategies and the real economy.
Investment performance was strong: China Life’s total investment income reached 387.694 billion yuan, up 25.8% year-on-year, with a total investment yield of 6.09%; Ping An Insurance’s comprehensive investment yield reached 6.3%, the highest in five years; New China Life Insurance led the industry with a total investment yield of 6.6%; China Pacific Insurance reported a total investment yield of 5.7% and a comprehensive investment yield of 6.1%; and People's Insurance Company of China achieved a record-high total investment income of 92.323 billion yuan, with a total investment yield of 5.7%. In terms of allocation strategies, several companies adopted a "barbell strategy": increasing allocations to high-dividend assets on one end while investing in areas related to new quality productive forces on the other. China Life’s publicly traded equity investments exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan, increasing by over 450 billion yuan since the beginning of the year; New China Life Insurance’s technology-related investments reached 140 billion yuan; and People's Insurance Company of China’s stock assets totaled 166.24 billion yuan, a significant increase of 175.9% from the start of the year. In serving national strategies, the companies continued to increase investments in technological innovation, green transformation, and rural revitalization, fulfilling their responsibilities as financial institutions.
From products to channels and asset allocation, the changes are interconnected and progressive.
Deepening Transformation and Value Reassessment Looking ahead to 2026, executives from the five insurers indicated during their respective earnings conferences that they will continue to prioritize high-quality development and deepen reform and transformation.
Regarding product transformation, Gong Xingfeng, President of New China Life Insurance, stated that 2025 was only the beginning. In 2026, the company will continue to deepen its transition to participating insurance, focusing on expanding product types and increasing sales of participating annuities, while strengthening product suitability management to ensure customers receive appropriate products. Hou Jin, Assistant President and Chief Actuary of China Life Insurance, noted that the proportion of floating-income business in first-year regular premiums had increased significantly year-on-year, and the effective duration gap for new business assets and liabilities had narrowed to 1.5 years.
In terms of channel development, Guo Xiaotao, Co-CEO and Deputy General Manager of Ping An Insurance, emphasized the company’s balanced channel structure, including agents, bancassurance, and community finance, which helps mitigate market volatility. The high-quality transformation of agents continues to improve, with per-capita productivity rising and the proportion of high-performing agents optimizing steadily. Li Jinsong, General Manager of China Pacific Life Insurance, reported that the company had established comprehensive business cooperation with all major state-owned banks, steadily increasing its bancassurance market share. Wang Lianwen, Vice President of New China Life Insurance, predicted that the bancassurance market in 2026 would exhibit a "Matthew Effect," where insurers with high specialization and strong asset-liability management capabilities would gain a competitive edge.
Regarding investment strategies, Liu Hui, Vice President of China Life Insurance, revealed that equity investments during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period would focus on three key areas: artificial intelligence and semiconductors, healthcare and biotechnology, and green energy and new infrastructure. Xie Yonglin, General Manager and Co-CEO of Ping An Insurance, stated that the company would leverage its patient capital to actively invest in emerging pillar industries and future sectors, currently covering cutting-edge fields such as GPUs, robotics, next-generation semiconductors, and brain-computer interfaces. Su Gang, Vice President of China Pacific Insurance, indicated that the company would increase equity asset allocations within risk tolerance limits to capture structural market opportunities. Cai Zhiwei, Vice President of People's Insurance Company of China, emphasized adherence to the principles of "long-term investment and value investment," further optimizing asset allocation to build a long-term, stable, and balanced investment portfolio.
In terms of shareholder returns, the five insurers generally raised their cash dividend levels. Fu Xin, Deputy General Manager of Ping An Insurance, disclosed that the company had over 90 billion yuan in unrealized gains from OCI equity investments, providing a solid foundation for sustainable future dividends. Su Shaojun, Board Secretary of China Pacific Insurance, noted that investors could reasonably anticipate potential dividend returns by assessing insurers’ medium- to long-term development potential.
The 2025 annual reports of China’s insurance industry are filled with stories of resilience and evolution. Profits are rising, structures are changing, and directions are shifting. Participating insurance demonstrates responsibility, bancassurance is becoming a core channel, and a steady flow of insurance funds is accelerating toward the frontiers of new quality productive forces. Stabilizing the foundation while forging new paths—this is the straightforward answer delivered by the insurance industry in 2025.
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