The new business value of banking and insurance soars by over 110%! New China Life Insurance's transformation shows remarkable results: dual efforts in investment restructuring and channel innovation.

<文｜Kong Liushuang Editor｜Gu Ning>

Over the past two years, a series of reform initiatives by New China Life Insurance has been an effective response to the industry’s profound transition, and it has also proven itself in the performance figures.

In 2025, New China Life Insurance proactively aligned with the industry’s transition trend, deepened an all-round reform-and-transformation drive, and the results have continued to show. The quality and efficiency of development have improved steadily. If we look at it over a longer timeline, the company’s reforms have mainly focused on two fronts: the investment side and the channel side. The company has precisely tackled development bottlenecks and driven itself toward high-quality development.

At one time, New China Life Insurance’s investments were seen as a weak spot. In 2023, the company’s allocation to equity-class assets was only 15.5%. The scale and returns of its stock and fund placements were almost at the bottom end among peers. Building investment capability became the first hurdle the company overcame in the early stage of its transition. Guided by the asset-allocation philosophy of “make it longer, make it broader, make it deeper,” New China Life Insurance launched an adjustment of “increase equities, reduce non-standard assets.” The Honghu Fund Phase III was rolled out one after another. The company’s cumulative capital contribution nearly reached RMB 46.25 billion to invest in blue-chip and hard-tech segments. Over the two years, high-dividend equity assets surged by more than 6 times. By 2025, the allocation share of stock funds rose to 21.2%. Meanwhile, non-standard assets were continuously reduced. Their scale shrank from RMB 156.9 billion to RMB 65.54B, and the share dropped sharply from 11.7% to 3.6%. The former investment shortcoming was completely rewritten into a growth strength.

The channel reforms on the liability side have also been eventful. New China Life Insurance’s individual insurance (individual policy/agency) channels had fallen into a predicament marked by falling renewal rates and sluggish capacity. In 2023, monthly average per-capita comprehensive production capacity was less than RMB 10,000. Renewal premium was slightly down year over year. Relying on the “XIN Generation” plan, New China Life Insurance’s individual insurance channels set out on a transformation path of “a leaner team with stronger effectiveness.” Over the two years, per-capita capacity doubled, and new business value rose significantly.

However, as of now, renewal businesses in the individual insurance channel still face pressure, posing a challenge to New China Life Insurance and even to the life insurance companies across the entire sector.

At the same time, New China Life Insurance’s bank-insurance (bank channel) business has also seen explosive growth. In 2025, new business value surged by more than 110%. New business value directly surpassed individual insurance to become the main driver of value contribution. As a result, the traditional channel landscape quietly changed.

Overall, over the past two years, New China Life Insurance’s series of reform initiatives have been both an effective response to the industry’s deep transition and a track record validated by performance. Based on the continued strengthening of the company’s strategic direction, operating capabilities, and two-year reform outcomes, the foundation for its development has become increasingly solid.

In the opening year of the “15th Five-Year Plan and the 5th year thereafter,” and on the occasion of its 30th anniversary, New China Life Insurance stated that in the future it will pursue excellence with a mindset of courage to compete, keep innovating beyond limits, continuously enhance its long-term competitive strength and operating quality and efficiency, deliver a good start for its “15th Five-Year Plan and the 5th year thereafter” development, and kick off a new journey of high-quality development for the company’s next 30 years.

The soul of the investment-side reform: increase equities and reduce non-standard assets

With regard to the former shortcomings on the investment side, New China Life Insurance has focused its efforts precisely. By leveraging its keen judgment of capital markets, it has made optimizing asset allocation a key breakthrough of the reforms. Through systematic adjustments, it has driven an upgrade of asset structure through iteration.

At the 2023 performance release meeting, senior management of New China Life Insurance said: “Within the whole industry, New China Asset currently has a relatively low share of equity assets in total assets, and it is even at the last place.” According to the data, in 2023, New China Life Insurance’s equity-class assets accounted for only 15.5%. Of this, stock assets were RMB 106.21B, up 7.9% year over year; funds were RMB 101.58B, down 7.5% year over year. In the industry, it was clearly a “tail-ender,” which became the “tough bone” the company most wanted to tackle in the early stage of its transition.

“Make it longer, make it broader, make it deeper” is the key direction for the company to focus on at the asset level since the transition.

So it did. Over the next two years, New China Life Insurance made substantial adjustments around asset-side allocation. From a third-party perspective, the adjustments can be divided into “additions” and “reductions.”

“Additions” means adding equities. Through setting up private equity funds, launching initiatives to take stakes in quality listed companies, and other approaches, the company allocates assets for long-term value investing, high-dividend equities, and even super-long-term interest rate bonds, gradually turning the investment side “shortcomings” into “strengths.” “Reductions” means cutting non-standard assets. It significantly shrinks financing for non-banking financial institutions, financing for infrastructure construction projects, financing for commercial real-estate projects, and financing for consumer credit products—among other types of non-standard assets—to complete a restructuring and upgrade of the asset composition.

In the first year of its transition, New China Life Insurance’s strategy adjustments were quickly implemented. In November 2023, New China Life Insurance initiated the establishment of Honghu Fund Phase I with China Life; it was established in February 2024 with registered capital of RMB 50 billion. By the end of 2025, the asset size reached RMB 58.91B. The annual investment yield was about 8.96%. The fund’s investments focus on large-cap blue chips and emerging industries. Honghu Fund Phase II obtained approval in March 2025 with a size of RMB 20 billion. Both parties each contributed RMB 10 billion. The fund invests in A+H shares of large listed companies among constituents of the CSI A500 Index. In May, the capital contribution was completed, and by the end of the second quarter, the fund completed its initial fund-formation and main portfolio build.

Honghu Fund Phase III obtained approval in May 2025 and was established with a size of RMB 22.5 billion. New China Life Insurance contributed RMB 11.25 billion. The fund’s investment approach continues the strategy of the first two phases and emphasizes strategic emerging industries and “key/blocked-from-being-replaced” (bottleneck) technology areas.

New China Life Insurance plans a cumulative capital contribution of up to RMB 46.25 billion in the Honghu Phase III fund, demonstrating its firm confidence in long-term value investing.

Meanwhile, New China Life Insurance’s “additions” in equity-asset allocation are also reflected in the rollout of high-dividend equity instruments. As of the end of 2024, its investments in high-dividend OCI-type equity instruments grew from RMB 5.37B at the beginning of the year to RMB 30.64B, a rise of 470.6%. By June 30, 2025, the investments in high-dividend OCI-type equity instruments further increased to RMB 37.47B, an increase of RMB 6.83B.

In 2025, equity allocation has improved steadily. New China Life Insurance’s stock and fund investment balance was RMB 389.0 billion, accounting for 21.2% of its investment assets. Of this, stock assets were RMB 216.45B, up 19.7% year over year, accounting for 11.80%, up 0.7 percentage points; fund assets were RMB 172.57B, up 36.6% year over year, accounting for 9.40%, up 1.7 percentage points.

“Reductions” means reducing non-standard assets, with contractions in both scale and share. At the end of 2023, New China Life Insurance’s non-standard asset investment amount was RMB 156.9 billion, accounting for 11.7% of total investment assets—already more than one-tenth. Combined with the years of trend, and with the 10-year government bond yield still remaining low, the financial investment attributes of traditional non-standard assets such as bank and real-estate assets have clearly weakened. Keeping non-standard investment pressure down is a natural outcome.

As of December 31, 2024, New China Life Insurance’s non-standard asset investment amount was RMB 95.13B, down RMB 61.82B from the end of the previous year. The share in total investment assets was 5.8%, down 5.9 percentage points from the end of the previous year. Further reductions were made by the end of 2025: non-standard asset investment amount fell to RMB 65.54B, down RMB 29.59B from the end of the previous year. In total investment assets, the share was 3.6%, down 2.2 percentage points from the end of the previous year.

At the 2025 performance release meeting, the company’s management said that in 2026 New China Life Insurance will continue to respond to policy guidance for medium- to long-term funds entering the market. Combining its own asset-liability management needs with market changes, it will adhere to the overall principle of making progress while staying steady. It will coordinate the timing and structure of equity-asset allocation. To address the volatility impact under the current relatively high equity positioning, there are three response mechanisms:

First, adhere to the concept of diversified allocation across major asset classes. The company will build a portfolio effect across industry distribution, A/H-share布局, active and passive strategies under both sides, and allocations between dividend-type and growth-type assets, thereby dispersing correlations and volatility.

Second, strengthen absolute investment capability. Over the past three years, it has continued to enhance the development of an integrated investment research and portfolio management system. The investment team already has the professional capability to identify targets with undervaluation and high dividends, as well as those representing high-growth strategic emerging industries.

Third, deepen asset-liability management capability. Under the strategic framework for the “15th Five-Year Plan and the 5th year thereafter,” and focusing on liability transformation such as dividend insurance, it will improve asset-liability immunity interactions under the account manager mechanism. The focus will be on two key priorities: capital adequacy and liquidity safety, so as to smooth the impact of short-term market volatility on the company’s core operating indicators.

Channel transformation achievements: increase production capacity and enhance value

Two years ago, the life insurance industry faced challenges such as customers’ demand becoming more specialized and diversified, difficulty in recruiting and retaining agents, and weak production capacity. Pressure was transmitted to every insurance company, with one specific manifestation being “right-sizing the organization and streamlining management.” New China Life Insurance was no exception.

From the data perspective, in 2023 New China Life Insurance’s individual insurance channel’s total premiums for the full year were RMB 115.58B, down slightly by 0.7% year over year. Among them, first-year premium for long-term insurance was RMB 11.71B, up 9.7% year over year. Although it increased, the base was relatively small. However, renewal premiums of the individual insurance channel’s “main base” decreased by 1.30% year over year to RMB 102.47B. Monthly average per-capita comprehensive production capacity was less than RMB 10,000.

Given the many unfavorable aspects in the individual insurance channel, reforms were put on the agenda. First came a change in philosophy. New China Life Insurance made it clear that in the past, the liability side had been mainly product-driven sales; now it needs to shift to being truly customer-centered. Second, it would rely long-term on the new basic law to drive the team toward specialization, professionalism, and elite-level transformation, and the “XIN Generation” plan is a concrete manifestation of this staged transformation. This plan is a comprehensive, systematic, and leap-forward reform from concept to practice. It covers four areas: institutional upgrades, model innovation, team development, and platform empowerment.

Transformation results have continued to emerge. In 2024, New China Life Insurance’s individual insurance channel recorded total premiums of RMB 115.97B for the full year, up 0.3% year over year. First-year premium for long-term insurance was RMB 13.72B, up 17.20% year over year. First-year regular premium and periodic payment (期交) was RMB 13.24B, up 19.70% year over year. New business value was RMB 4.03B, up 37.19% year over year.

In 2025, relying on the “XIN Generation” plan, New China Life Insurance launched a training system for “Full Lifecycle Planning Specialist (WLP).” It continued to promote the building of a high-quality marketing team, and the quality of the individual insurance channel improved further. Total premiums of the individual insurance channel reached RMB 120.58B, up 3.98% year over year. First-year premium for new policies was RMB 19.65B, up 43.22% year over year, including first-year regular premium (期交) of RMB 19.03B, up 43.76% year over year. New business value of individual insurance was RMB 4.81B, up 19.38% year over year. Monthly average per-capita comprehensive production capacity surpassed RMB 10,000, reaching RMB 11.2k, up 43.59% year over year.

By now, New China’s individual insurance channel has almost completed the upgrade from “improving quality while reducing volume” to “lean and strong, highly effective.” Both individual insurance total premiums and first-year periodic premiums for long-term policies have grown.

However, renewal premiums have continued to show the same pressure trend as two years ago. In 2024, renewal premiums were RMB 11.2k, down 1.40% year over year; in 2025, individual insurance renewal premiums were RMB 101.07B, down 1.23% year over year.

If further broken down by quarter, the strong growth in 2024 occurred in the second half, and the switching between new and old products has driven premium growth to some extent. On the data side: in the first half of 2024, New China Life Insurance’s earned premium income from original insurance was RMB 99.83B, down 8.4% year over year. Of this, premiums income from individual insurance channels totaled RMB 68.72 billion, down 0.7% year over year.

Even so, New China Life Insurance’s individual insurance channel reform is still fairly good. At least, judging from the data, the improvement in team production capacity and value contribution is tangible—monthly average per-capita comprehensive production capacity rose from RMB 6k in 2023 to RMB 11.2k in 2025. New business value also increased from RMB 0.407 billion to RMB 6k. This “elite team” strategy has caught the rhythm of the industry’s transition.

But just as reforms in individual insurance began to show results, the channel experienced a major reversal, with bank-insurance value returning to the “C position.” For the industry overall, we won’t go into the broader data; let’s look specifically at New China Life Insurance. In 2025, New China Life Insurance’s bank-insurance channel total premiums were RMB 11.2k, up sharply by 39.53% year over year. First-year premium for new policies was RMB 407M, up 52.31% year over year, including first-year regular premium (期交) of RMB 4.81B, up 29.56% year over year. Renewal premiums were RMB 72.1B, up 27.65% year over year. New business value was RMB 37.93B, up a whopping 110.16% year over year—directly surpassing individual insurance to become the main driver of new business value.

Per-capita production capacity rose by 17.90% year over year. Bank-insurance became the core engine for both growth in scale and value, while the leading position of individual insurance quietly loosened.

In response, at the 2025 performance release meeting, President and Chief Financial Officer Gong Xingfeng said: “The positioning of the individual insurance channel as the company’s core channel has never changed. It will not change now, and it will not change in the future. The individual insurance team is New China’s partner and entrepreneurs—our most important partners and family. They have strong customer stickiness and possess irreplaceable advantages in selling complex long-term premium-payment products. They are also the core pillars for the company to pass through medium- to long-term economic cycles. We will, as always, increase resource investment and cultivate and enable the growth of this team.

New China Life Insurance will comprehensively implement a modern marketing new model from three major dimensions. Gong Xingfeng introduced:

First, the service dimension: going beyond single-insurance service, integrating high-quality resources such as law firms, trusts, education, and others, to build a full-lifecycle service system covering ten areas: medical, health, elderly care, wealth, commerce, tax, law, education, entertainment, and culture. This will transform ecosystem advantages into a moat.

Second, the scenario dimension: upgrading traditional “strong at persuading/closing, weak in participation” hard scenarios into “weak at persuading/closing, strong in participation” soft scenarios. It will enhance customers’ sense of experience and participation, and smoothly complete the entire process from being moved by the scene, to building consensus on理念, and to purchase decision-making.

Third, the technology dimension: leveraging artificial intelligence and big data, accelerating end-to-end digitization upgrades of marketing, precisely depicting customer profiles, reducing the difficulty of agent development, and improving the precision and effectiveness of service matching. Ultimately, it will drive the team to transform from being only insurance sellers into a professional “iron army” and a professional entrepreneur team that provides a package of integrated solutions.”

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