Fixed Income Products Make a Comeback: Will There Be New Changes in the Q2 Market?

“Fixed income products are back?”

In early March, a leading insurance company launched a pure fixed income product. Two years ago, such a product wouldn’t have been unusual.

But today, against the backdrop of dividend insurance having been strongly promoted for nearly two years and gradually becoming the industry’s mainline, this move quickly sparked market discussion.

More notably, as the 2026 “Kickoff Red” campaign gradually comes to an end, it’s no longer just a few companies’ product actions attracting attention. Several interviewees and industry insiders mentioned that more and more companies are starting to prepare for fixed income products after the kickoff red.

This may not mean that the dividend mainline is being overturned, but at least it indicates that after nearly two years of focused transformation, the industry’s understanding of “full promotion of dividends” is undergoing new changes.

The most concerned question from outside observers remains:

Is this just insurance companies responding to temporary needs with product adjustments, or is there a deeper shift in market sentiment? Will the frontline teams that have shifted from fixed income to dividends face another sales logic switch?

With these questions, “Insurance Today” recently interviewed several frontline practitioners from large and small insurance companies. The consensus is:

The appearance of this fixed income product does not mean the market is “going back.” For most frontline agents, dividends remain the mainline;

But at the same time, reflections on “full promotion of dividends” have already begun. And some new product preparations are quietly unfolding in areas not yet widely perceived on the frontline.

In this sense, what truly deserves attention now is not a simple binary choice of “dividends or fixed income,” but rather:

After a round of focused transformation, each institution is adjusting its product strategies and business judgments based on market conditions, their own situation, and annual operational rhythms.

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Current frontline view: dividends are still the mainline

“Fixed income, 2.0% compound interest written into the contract, locked in for life, with a maximum additional 3.1% settlement rate account.”

In a market where dividend products have become mainstream, the emergence of such a pure fixed income product naturally draws attention.

However, based on feedback from multiple frontline practitioners interviewed by “Insurance Today,” at least at this stage, there isn’t a strong sense of this product’s appearance.

Wei Feng, a senior director at a leading insurance company’s eastern branch, said the reason for launching this product is because “both the banking and insurance sectors are offering fixed income products, so we also launched one to diversify our product offerings. Overall, dividend insurance remains the main force.”

Zheng Ming, a senior manager at a leading insurance company’s central branch, also mentioned that their system offers both fixed income products and “fixed income + dividends” dividend products. In theory, “we can sell whichever we want,” but in practice, “we are currently mainly promoting fixed income plus dividends dividend insurance.”

Lin Long, a senior director at a large insurance company’s western branch, was more direct:

“We won’t go back to pushing fixed income products; we will continue to promote dividend products.”

Rong Cheng, a senior director at a large insurance company in western China, known for its popular fixed income products last year, also said that this year’s “Kickoff Red” campaign has been promoting ten-year dividend products, and there are no fixed income products at the moment.

Several other large and small insurance practitioners also provided similar feedback:

Whether during the Kickoff Red period or at present, dividends remain the clearest mainline for most companies’ sales efforts, and there is no widespread sign of a fixed income market rebound.

From these responses, at least in the current frontline view, dividends are still the most clearly defined mainline for most companies’ sales.

The appearance of fixed income products is more of a product move, and has not yet formed a clear signal of front-end switching.

But this is more a reflection of what the frontline sees now. Whether companies have already begun preparations for the next phase may become clearer in Q2.

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Why is fixed income appearing again?

Many first think of the large maturing deposits

Since dividend products have become mainstream and are generally believed to be unlikely to revert in the short term, why are fixed income products being launched again now?

Many respondents’ first reaction is straightforward: they are eyeing the huge maturing deposits in banks.

Some brokerages predict that over 50 trillion yuan of household deposits will mature by 2026. Meanwhile, deposit interest rates continue to decline, and the attractiveness of some medium- and long-term deposit products is weakening. For clients who are accustomed to putting money in banks and have very low risk appetite, the once familiar and relatively profitable deposit products are decreasing.

Against this background, it’s understandable that a leading insurance company would launch a fixed income product through its individual channels.

This part of the funds often values certainty most. Compared to floating yields, they care more about whether the yield is written into the contract, whether the logic is simple enough, and whether the future is stable enough. From this perspective, offering a product with a fixed 2.0% return aligns with the logic of “selling suitable products to suitable people.”

Because of this, many frontline practitioners see this fixed income product re-entering the market not as a product philosophy issue, but as a very practical capital acceptance issue:

There is such a pool of funds, and such a type of client, so the market will produce corresponding products to accept them. Especially when client needs are already diverging, reintroducing fixed income products is a natural development.

Of course, beyond this direct capital link, some small and medium-sized companies also have practical considerations in product arrangements. Due to factors like solvency and net assets, fixed income products may be more friendly at certain stages than dividend insurance, and thus they may not simply follow market trends.

From this perspective, the reappearance of fixed income products in the specific market window of Q2 is not surprising.

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Fixed income is back

But frontline isn’t excited

Logically, compared to dividend insurance, which requires explaining dividend realization rates and investment logic, traditional fixed income insurance with a 2.0% increase in sum insured should be closer to the “comfort zone” of agents.

But the survey results are somewhat surprising: many frontline agents show little enthusiasm for the reappearance of fixed income products.

Even within the leading companies that launched this product, frontline staff aren’t particularly “interested.”

“This fixed income product has low returns, low commissions, and nobody’s interested,” said Wei Feng, a senior director at a leading insurance company’s eastern branch, bluntly. “But the product’s value rate is high, which benefits the company.”

Another senior director at a different provincial branch of the same company, Guan Zhong, admitted that the lack of enthusiasm is because the market environment has changed.

“Times are different now; you can’t step into the same river twice—customers and agents are numb to products now. They’re less sensitive because the market deflation is a bigger issue than product types. From the customer’s perspective, they prefer products that recover their principal quickly and have high early cash value, because they want to maintain control.”

Zhao Hua, a senior manager at a small insurance company’s northern branch, gave a more direct judgment from the customer’s perspective:

“Compared to a 1.75% guaranteed dividend insurance, 2.0% fixed income, 70% of customers would choose the former. Because we’ve sold 2.5% dividend and 3.0% fixed income before, and the 2.5% plus dividends yield was higher than 3.0%.”

Another senior director at a central China branch, Hong Qing, shared a similar view: compared to the current guaranteed 1.75% dividend insurance, the 2.0% fixed income only has a 0.25 percentage point difference in guaranteed return. He believes sacrificing future dividend space for this small gap isn’t very meaningful.

“This guaranteed return isn’t very attractive to everyone. Although it’s called fixed income at 2%, it also depends on the current price level,” he said.

This makes a very practical question clear:

Today’s clients don’t necessarily focus only on “2.0” or “1.75,” but on how quickly they can recover their principal, how high the cash value is, and whether there’s room for additional gains in the future.

For frontline sales, whether a product sells well often depends less on its name and more on whether clients understand and are willing to buy.

On social platforms, some users have already expressed more straightforward opinions. One user complained that, based on their calculations, holding this fixed income product long-term doesn’t give a strong sense of return.

Of course, such straightforward calculations are not equivalent to professional insurance yield assessments and overlook costs like life insurance coverage and long-term compound interest. But they do reflect that many people are currently concerned about yield perception, cash value, and payback period.

At least from this survey, the reappearance of fixed income products doesn’t mean they will immediately rekindle frontline enthusiasm. For many agents, fixed income isn’t unfamiliar, but today’s clients and sales environment are no longer the markets that could be easily moved by “guaranteed returns” alone.

Moreover, the team has just begun to adapt to the sales rhythm, language, and logic of dividend insurance. If they suddenly switch back to selling fixed income now, many would feel uncomfortable and may not be able to adapt quickly.

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Dividends are the mainline

The team is just beginning to adapt

Another consistent voice from the interviews is:

Dividends have become mainstream, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy task.

A senior director at a large insurance company’s central China branch, Bao Jie, pointed out that interest rate cuts are a reality the entire industry must face, which also means sales methods must change accordingly.

“Now we’re selling not just the yield of insurance, but its functions and value. Only by truly focusing on customer needs and selling the insurance’s functions well can there be a future market. Whether selling dividends or fixed income, the key is to first do a good job of customer service and address their concerns.”

A senior manager at a small insurance company’s central China branch, Tang Jing, also said that the market environment cannot be changed, only accepted. “Lower guaranteed returns, higher dividend expectations—that’s the trend.”

In her view, as long as the company has some investment income capacity, customer acceptance of dividend insurance can gradually build up, because these products inherently share the company’s operational results.

Guo Fang, a senior director at a large insurance company’s northern China branch, emphasized that the real issue lies with the sales team. She straightforwardly stated that the future will still be dominated by dividend insurance, and agents must adapt and accept this trend, learning the sales skills for dividend products.

For many ordinary agents, switching from the easier-to-explain fixed income products to those requiring explanation of dividend logic, investment returns, and long-term outlooks is a significant hurdle.

Some respondents also noted that in a low-interest-rate environment, dividend products have more promotional space, but that doesn’t mean sales are easier. As some companies start transitioning to dividend-increment whole life policies in Q2, with longer payback periods and more customer objections, the communication challenges for agents are increasing.

From this perspective, after dividends become the mainline, the real challenge isn’t just product switching, but whether the sales team can truly adapt to the new sales logic. For many agents, this adaptation process has only just begun.

Postscript

The real change isn’t in a specific product

But in the market and sales logic itself

From these feedbacks, the real change may not be the re-emergence of a particular product, but that the market itself has changed.

Customers are changing, needs are changing, sales environments are changing, and teams are changing… Today’s market can no longer be dominated by a single product.

In the past, whether customers bought or not often depended on high yields; now, they pay more attention to details, ask more questions. Compared to a single yield figure, they increasingly care about cash value, payback period, product flexibility, and whether the company can fulfill its promises in the long run.

For agents, this means that whether they sell fixed income or dividends next, it’s no longer enough to rely on a single pitch or selling point.

The market today truly tests not just what products are sold, but how well they are explained and how well customer needs are understood. The future trajectory depends on real market feedback and each company’s own choices.