Nine Bank-Affiliated Insurance Companies Achieved Combined Net Profit Exceeding 19 Billion Yuan Last Year

Our reporter Yang Xiaohan

Recently, the insurance companies’ 2025 Q4 solvency reports have been nearly finalized, revealing the operational status of bank-affiliated insurance firms. Data shows that in 2025, bank-affiliated insurers performed well, with nine such companies achieving a total insurance business income of 443.816 billion yuan, a 15.5% increase year-over-year, and a combined net profit of 19.366 billion yuan, up 65.5% year-over-year.

Experts interviewed stated that last year’s significant increase in net profits for bank-affiliated insurers was mainly due to low base effects, a rebound in the equity markets, improved asset quality, and business scale effects.

Significant Year-Over-Year Increase in Net Profit

Bank-affiliated insurers are insurance companies directly or indirectly controlled by banks. Compared to other insurers, they have closer cooperation with their parent banks and possess certain resource advantages.

Specifically, in terms of insurance business income, in 2025, the nine bank-affiliated insurers collectively achieved 443.816 billion yuan, a 15.5% increase from the previous year, with all nine companies reporting year-over-year growth. Among them, China Post Life Insurance Co., Ltd., ICBC Ansheng Life Insurance Co., Ltd., and CCB CIB Insurance Co., Ltd. ranked top three with insurance incomes of 159.166 billion yuan, 50.864 billion yuan, and 49.269 billion yuan, respectively.

Regarding net profits, in 2025, all nine bank-affiliated insurers were profitable, totaling 19.366 billion yuan, a 65.5% increase from the previous year. One insurer turned profitable from loss, seven saw year-over-year profit increases, and one experienced a decline.

Notably, among the 57 non-listed life insurance companies that have disclosed solvency reports, all net profits of bank-affiliated insurers ranked within the top 20. Five of the top ten non-listed life insurers by net profit are bank-affiliated.

In this regard, Yang Fan, General Manager of Beijing PaiPaiWang Insurance Agency Co., Ltd., analyzed to Securities Daily that last year’s overall operation of bank-affiliated insurers showed a strong recovery trend of “both volume and profit rising,” driven mainly by precise market opportunity grasping and channel advantages.

He stated that the rapid growth in insurance business income was mainly due to increased demand for stable financial assets in a low-interest-rate environment. Relying on the parent bank’s extensive branch network and customer trust, bank-affiliated insurers dominated the bancassurance channel, achieving rapid scale expansion. The significant increase in net profit was primarily due to improved investment returns from a rebound in the equity markets, cost dilution effects from business scale, low profit bases last year, and asset quality improvements leading to the reversal of previously recognized loss provisions, all contributing to impressive profit performance.

Building Differentiated Competitive Barriers

As the business of bank-affiliated insurers grows rapidly, their capital consumption also accelerates. Data shows that most of these insurers experienced a decline in their core solvency adequacy ratio and comprehensive solvency adequacy ratio compared to the previous year.

Specifically, in 2025, the average core solvency adequacy ratio of the nine bank-affiliated insurers was 115.89%, down 34.46 percentage points from the previous year, and the average comprehensive solvency adequacy ratio was 179.39%, down 50.25 percentage points. Eight insurers saw declines in both ratios compared to 2024.

According to Zhang Lingjia, President of Guangdong Kelly Capital Management Co., Ltd., the decline in solvency ratios is mainly due to rapid business expansion consuming large amounts of capital. Additionally, declining market interest rates require insurers to increase reserve provisions, reducing actual capital. Stricter regulatory requirements, such as the full implementation of the second phase of the “Solvency II” regime, also exert ongoing pressure on solvency ratios.

Looking ahead, to leverage their advantages and achieve high-quality development, Zhang suggested that bank-affiliated insurers should shift from “scale-driven” to “value-driven” growth, focusing on transforming toward pension, health, and other protection-oriented products. Upgrading asset allocation capabilities to navigate economic cycles and deepening ecological collaboration with parent banks to provide comprehensive financial services are key. Insurers should also strengthen capital management, balancing business expansion with solvency safety.

Yang Fan believes that bank-affiliated insurers should capitalize on the unique advantage of “bank-insurance synergy,” transitioning from reliance on distribution channels to deep ecological integration, building differentiated competitive barriers. On the product side, they should break dependence on savings products, leveraging the large customer base of banks to develop diversified “protection + wealth management” product matrices, unlocking customer lifetime value. On the service side, integrating parent bank resources to build a “finance + health” ecosystem, enhancing service value. Additionally, utilizing the parent bank’s fintech capabilities to promote digital transformation, enabling precise marketing and refined operations, will help achieve sustainable high-quality development amid fierce market competition.