Equity investment allocation exceeds 1.2 trillion yuan, China Life's net profit increased by 44.1% year-on-year

A senior executive at China Life stated that the core driving factor behind the significant profit increase this year mainly comes from investment income, with total investment income reaching its best level in recent years.

Written by: Yang Rui, Caijing reporter

Edited by: Yuan Man

“2025 will be a complete success,” said Cai Xiliang, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of China Life (601628.SH, 2628.HK), during the 2025 performance meeting on March 26, commenting on the company’s annual performance for 2025.

As the first publicly listed insurance institution to release its annual report this year, China Life’s annual report shows that by the end of 2025, it achieved operating revenue of 615.678 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.5%; the net profit attributable to shareholders was 154.078 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 44.1%. On the investment side, significantly increasing equity asset allocation, it achieved total investment income of 387.694 billion yuan for the year, with a total investment return rate of 6.09%, up 59 basis points year-on-year. On the liability side, total premium income reached 729.887 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.7%, breaking the 700 billion yuan mark for the first time.

The core driving factor behind China Life’s significant profit increase this year mainly comes from investment income, with total investment income reaching its best level in recent years. Regarding investment strategy, Liu Hui, Vice President and Secretary of the Board of China Life, analyzed, “Equity investment is the key to enhancing returns. In 2025, China Life actively promotes the entry of medium- and long-term funds into the market, seizing favorable market opportunities, and strategically increasing the equity ratio by 5 percentage points, focusing on new productive forces and high-dividend quality assets. The overall equity investment scale exceeds 1.2 trillion yuan.” In terms of shareholder returns, China Life’s total dividends reached 24.195 billion yuan, up 31.7% year-on-year.

Regarding the development goals for the next five years, Cai Xiliang stated, “The next five years will still be a golden strategic opportunity period for China Life, focusing on areas such as digital transformation, omni-channel development, and health and wellness ecosystem construction.”

Increasing equity assets by over 450 billion yuan

By the end of 2025, China Life’s investment asset scale reached 7.42 trillion yuan, a 12.3% increase from the beginning of the year, making it the first life insurance company in China to break through 7 trillion yuan in investment assets.

It is worth noting that China Life is vigorously promoting the entry of medium- and long-term funds into the market. By the end of 2025, the scale of public market equity investments exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan, an increase of over 450 billion yuan from the beginning of the year.

According to the annual report data, by the end of 2025, the allocation ratio of China Life’s stocks and funds (excluding money market funds) increased from 12.18% at the end of 2024 to 16.89%, with the stock proportion rising from 7.58% to 11.25%, significantly increasing the equity asset allocation ratio. The increase in the proportion of participating insurance means that the company has a higher tolerance for fluctuations in equity assets, providing greater flexibility on the investment side. By the end of 2025, the company achieved a total investment return rate of 6.09%, an increase of 59 percentage points year-on-year. The average total investment return rate over the past three years was 4.76%.

Liu Hui stated that China Life achieved its best investment performance in recent years in 2025, with a total investment return rate of 6.09%, realizing high growth on a high base. This achievement is attributed to the high-quality development of the Chinese economy and the stabilization and improvement of the capital market, as well as the company’s long-term commitment to value investment and prudent investment strategies, along with accurate market assessments and flexible tactical operations for 2025. Specifically, first, capitalizing on the trend to increase exposure to Chinese assets and seize the dividends of the new productive forces era: strategically increasing the equity ratio by nearly 5 percentage points in 2025, with equity investment scale exceeding 1.2 trillion yuan, focusing on technology stocks, becoming the core driver of performance growth; second, cross-cycle allocation of long bonds to solidify the asset-liability matching foundation: previously, during periods of high interest rates and long bond issuance windows, significantly increasing allocations, currently accumulating 3 trillion yuan in long-term bonds, with duration matching at a good level.

At the same time, China Life has also created new strategies such as the S Fund and merger funds to enhance long-term return potential. For instance, by focusing on core assets through direct equity investments, it has laid out stable cash flow green double-carbon assets; through PE funds, it has invested in emerging industries. In the health field, it initiated the establishment of a series of health funds in 2016, investing nearly 20 billion yuan, nurturing 22 listed companies, with a total market value exceeding 1 trillion yuan, effectively supporting specialized and innovative enterprises. In the science and technology innovation field, it issued a science and technology innovation fund of 5 billion yuan in 2021, mainly focusing on AI, integrated circuits, and other technology sectors; using innovative tools to assist industrial upgrades, etc. Overall, equity investment is primarily focused on three major directions: artificial intelligence and semiconductors, health and biotechnology, green energy and new infrastructure.

According to data released by the National Financial Regulatory Administration, by the end of 2025, the balance of funds utilized by insurance companies amounted to 38.5 trillion yuan. For large-scale life insurance companies with long liability durations, the fund utilization balance was 34.7 trillion yuan, of which the balance allocated to stock investments was 3.5 trillion yuan, increasing by over 1.2 trillion yuan throughout the year; the stock proportion was 10.12%, up 2.55 percentage points year-on-year, with stock allocation reaching a new high.

The proportion of first-year premiums for floating income-type businesses approached half

In terms of premium income, in 2025, China Life’s total premium income broke through 700 billion yuan for the first time, reaching 729.887 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.7%. The first-year premiums amounted to 116.205 billion yuan, ranking first in the industry. The first-year premiums for policies with a duration of ten years or more were 52.197 billion yuan, accounting for 44.92% of first-year premiums, with individual insurance channels accounting for over 58% of this type of premium.

From the business structure perspective, the new policy premium shares for life insurance, annuity insurance, and health insurance were 31.75%, 32.11%, and 31.23%, respectively; floating income-type business saw strong growth, accounting for nearly 50% of first-year premiums.

In 2025, China Life achieved new business value of 45.752 billion yuan for the year, a year-on-year increase of 35.7%, the highest growth rate since 2017. By channel, the individual insurance channel remains the main contributor to value. In the bancassurance channel, China Life’s total premium income for 2025 also exceeded 100 billion yuan, reaching 110.874 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 45.5%.

According to Li Mingguang, President of China Life, in various sales channels, the individual insurance channel has fully played its key role, with continuous improvement in team quality and growth in new forces, achieving a 40% year-on-year increase in enhanced manpower, a 2.2 percentage point year-on-year increase in the 13-month retention rate, and a 2.3 percentage point year-on-year increase in the proportion of personnel aged 45 and below. In the bancassurance channel, the next step will focus on deepening the channel and increasing outlet capacity as key breakthroughs.

Additionally, Cai Xiliang mentioned that China Life actively participates in the construction of a multi-level social security system, with cumulative payments and compensations nearing 900 billion yuan over five years; providing insurance protection for over 270 million rural residents annually, cumulatively participating in over 200 major illness insurance projects, over 70 long-term care insurance projects, and over 140 urban commercial medical insurance projects; effectively serving the development of the real economy, with investments in the real economy exceeding 5 trillion yuan.

Edited by: Wang Yi