Over 80% Profitable: Non-Listed Personal Insurance Companies' 2025 Profits Surge

◎ Reporter He Kui

According to incomplete statistics from Shanghai Securities News, as of March 15, a total of 57 non-listed life insurance companies have disclosed their 2025 Q4 solvency reports. The total net profit for the year increased by over 160% year-on-year, with more than 80% of profitable insurers.

Industry insiders believe that the high performance growth of non-listed life insurance companies in 2025 is mainly influenced by two factors: on one hand, market interest rates remained relatively stable, significantly reducing the impact of reserve provisions eroding profits; on the other hand, some residents are “moving deposits” to purchase insurance products, combined with good investment returns in the equity markets, leading to synchronized improvements in insurers’ assets and liabilities.

Over 80% Achieve Profitability

China has 92 life insurance companies. Besides the listed insurers and their subsidiaries, which will disclose their reports by the end of March, about 20 non-listed life insurance companies have yet to release their solvency reports.

Data shows that 57 non-listed life insurance companies achieved a combined net profit of over 66 billion yuan in 2025, a year-on-year increase of over 160% under comparable standards. Among them, 47 companies were profitable, accounting for more than 80%. In terms of net profit scale, Taikang Life led with approximately 27.2 billion yuan. In terms of profit growth rate, Dongwu Life and Tongfang Global Life both saw net profit increase by over 30 times year-on-year.

Some non-listed life insurance companies experienced “rocket-like” growth in net profits. Industry insiders suggest this may be related to a reduced impact of reserve provisions. For example, Dongwu Life’s reserve provisions increased by 900 million yuan in 2024 due to declining government bond yields, which eroded profits and resulted in a net profit of just over 20 million yuan that year. In 2025, the overall 10-year government bond yield rose, significantly reducing the impact of reserve provisions, allowing the company to achieve net profits exceeding 800 million yuan.

The overall high growth in the performance of non-listed life insurance companies is also largely driven by rising equity markets. Dr. Long Ge, Deputy Director of the Innovation and Risk Management Research Center at the University of International Business and Economics, told Shanghai Securities News that in 2025, most non-listed insurers turned profitable, with several reversing losses, and their investment returns generally improved. This was mainly supported by the strong performance of equity markets, providing robust investment income.

Residents “Moving Deposits” to Buy Insurance

In 2025, under the trend of “moving deposits,” residents’ enthusiasm for allocating funds into insurance products increased. This phenomenon is reflected in the growth of “bank-affiliated” insurers’ performance. Data shows that 10 bank-affiliated life insurance companies achieved combined insurance business income of over 477 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 15%, outpacing the industry average growth rate.

“The strong growth of ‘bank-affiliated’ insurers is mainly due to their reliance on the parent bank’s channels, precisely meeting the ‘deposit migration’ demand amid declining interest rates,” said Dr. Long Ge. “Policies like ‘integrated banking’ and the lowering of guaranteed interest rates have also significantly reduced liability costs, freeing up profit margins.”

Yang Fan, General Manager of Beijing PaiPaiWang Insurance Agency Co., Ltd., told Shanghai Securities News that in the current low-interest-rate environment, the large customer base and branch network of banks provide insurers with stable customer acquisition channels. Investment-type insurance products have become an important substitute for bank deposits, greatly promoting premium growth.

Effective Asset-Liability Management Is Key

Industry insiders believe that the performance of non-listed life insurance companies in 2025 is increasingly polarized, and effective asset-liability matching management remains a key focus for future development.

“Non-listed insurers in 2025 show clear signs of further differentiation and accelerated transformation, with the ‘Matthew Effect’ in the industry becoming more pronounced,” said Yang Fan. “Leading non-listed insurers, with their sound management strategies and brand accumulation, maintain strong profitability resilience, while small and medium-sized insurers face greater pressure in traditional competition.”

Looking ahead, how should non-listed life insurers respond to market challenges? Yang Fan believes that, affected by capital market fluctuations, investment returns’ impact on profits has significantly increased, forcing insurers to enhance their asset-liability management capabilities to mitigate interest spread risks.

A senior executive from a large insurance asset management firm in Shanghai told reporters that future asset-liability matching management will be a key focus for the company. In recent years, dividend-paying life insurance sales have accounted for a large proportion, and since dividend policies and traditional insurance have different investment requirements, this also compels the asset side to adapt to these changes.