Ask AI · How Peking University PhD Liu Dayong Uses Technology to Empower Insurance Innovation?

Author | Xie Meiyu

Editor | Fu Ying

Source | Dujiang Finance

Four months after the “80s” female Chairwoman He Xin took office at Oriental Jiafu Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Oriental Jiafu Life”), the vacant position of General Manager, which had been unfilled for seven months, was also filled.

On March 16, the Zhejiang Regulatory Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission officially issued approval, confirming Liu Dayong’s qualification to serve as General Manager of Oriental Jiafu Life. This manager, who has been acting as interim head since August 2025, officially steps into the role.

Founded in 2012, Oriental Jiafu Life was formerly known as Sino-Korean Life. Looking at the company’s financial history, in the 12 years before its establishment, it only made a profit of 8.16 million yuan in 2020, with losses in the other 11 years totaling over 1.5 billion yuan. Starting in 2024, Oriental Jiafu Life turned profitable, albeit with only 100 million yuan; in 2025, it continued to make a profit of 600 million yuan, but in the fourth quarter of 2025, it lost 45 million yuan.

Liu Dayong’s official appointment signifies that the management stability of this life insurance company, which has undergone joint venture to state-owned transformation and rebranding, has been consolidated. However, how the “80s” management team centered around He Xin and Liu Dayong will handle short-term profit fluctuations and achieve sustained profitability remains critical.

1

Acted as interim head for 7 months,

Liu Dayong becomes General Manager

Before Liu Dayong’s approval, the General Manager position at Oriental Jiafu Life had been vacant for 7 months. Looking back, the tenure of former General Manager Zhang Xifan was full of twists and turns.

On August 8, 2025, former General Manager Zhang Xifan resigned for personal reasons, less than 8 months after his qualification was officially approved. From the company’s proposal to appoint him as General Manager in August 2022 to the regulatory approval on December 17, 2024, the approval process took 2 years and 4 months, during which he served as acting head.

Zhang Xifan, born in February 1970, started as a journalist, working as a reporter and news anchor at Guangzhou TV. After entering the insurance industry, he held positions at several foreign and Sino-foreign joint venture insurance companies. After resigning, he joined Hong Kong Manulife Insurance as Executive Director and CEO.

After the General Manager position was vacated, Oriental Jiafu Life appointed Vice President Liu Dayong as acting head, responsible for daily operations and management. Now, with Liu Dayong’s formal appointment, the vacancy is filled, marking the company’s management entering a stable phase.

Image source: Canned Library

From his background, Liu Dayong has extensive experience in insurance companies. Born in June 1981, he holds a PhD in Physics from Peking University and a postdoctoral degree in Big Data Insurance. He started working in July 2008, serving as a consultant for Ping An’s reform project team, senior manager at Sunshine Insurance Group’s Strategy and Innovation Development Center, head of Planning and Marketing at Hongkang Life Insurance Co., Ltd., head of Planning and Marketing at United Life Insurance Co., Ltd., and head of Strategic Planning at Financial OneConnect.

Zhi Peiyuan, Vice Chairman of the Investment Professional Committee of the China Investment Association, believes, “With a PhD in Physics from Peking University and experience at Financial OneConnect, Liu Dayong’s multidisciplinary background could help the company break down the boundaries between insurance and technology, exploring new models of insurance services.”

Shen Meng, Director of Legend Capital, said, “A cross-sector background can bring some different ideas to management, but it can also be a double-edged sword. Moreover, the domestic life insurance market faces many growth pressures. Whether new management concepts will be effective in addressing these challenges remains uncertain.”

This image may be AI-generated

Image source: Canned Library

It’s worth noting that before this, Oriental Jiafu Life had already welcomed “80s” female Chairwoman He Xin, whose qualification was approved by regulators on November 26, 2025.

He Xin is a capable woman within Zhejiang Oriental’s major shareholder system, born in February 1982. She is one of the youngest female chairpersons in the insurance industry, with a background in accounting. She is a CPA and a member of the Australian CPA. Early in her career, she worked at PwC for many years. She joined Zhejiang Oriental in 2007 and currently serves as Vice President and Secretary of the Board of Zhejiang Oriental. In October 2022, she became a director of Oriental Jiafu Life.

As of now, including the chairman, four senior executives at Oriental Jiafu Life are “80s,” accounting for 50%: Chairman He Xin, General Manager Liu Dayong, along with Chief Financial Officer Chen Bo (born 1988), General Manager Assistant and Chief Investment Officer He Yin (born 1980).

There are also four senior executives born in the 1970s: Chief Actuary Qian Jianjun (born July 1974); Vice President and Operations Director Liu Donghe (born February 1976); Secretary of the Board, Compliance Officer, Chief Risk Officer, and General Counsel Fan Hongrui (born June 1978); and Audit Responsible Person Ren Hong (born December 1974).

According to the solvency report, among the senior management of Oriental Jiafu Life, six earn over 1 million yuan in 2025, with one leaving; two earn between 500,000 and 1 million yuan. The highest annual salary during the reporting period was 2.3418 million yuan.

2

Liu Dayong as a “contributor” to capital increase and strategic “battle hero,”

Core solvency adequacy ratio drops to 111%

Behind the personnel changes is a reshaping of Oriental Jiafu Life’s equity structure and strategic layout.

Originally named Sino-Korean Life, Oriental Jiafu Life was jointly funded by Zhejiang International Trade Group and Hanwha Life Insurance Co., Ltd. in November 2012, each holding 50%. Later, Zhejiang International Trade Group transferred its shares to Zhejiang Oriental Financial Holding Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Zhejiang Oriental Financial”), and the company has no actual controlling shareholder.

Starting in 2021, Oriental Jiafu Life launched a 20-month “capital increase and strategic battle” project, in which Liu Dayong, as a core member, was deeply involved. According to Zhejiang Oriental Financial’s official website, at the Zhejiang Provincial State-Owned Enterprise Mixed Ownership Reform Promotion Conference in July 2021, Liu Dayong, then Chief Strategy Officer of Sino-Korean Life, introduced the company’s reform development, strategic goals, capital increase, and project investment highlights.

Image source: Canned Library

After the capital increase in 2022, the original shareholder Zhejiang Oriental Financial’s stake was diluted from 50% to 33.33%, Hanwha Life Insurance’s stake was diluted to 24.99%, and new strategic investors held approximately 41.68%.

In July 2022, the capital increase was approved by regulators, and Sino-Korean Life’s registered capital doubled from 1.5 billion to 3.0012 billion yuan, introducing five new state-owned shareholders from the Yangtze River Delta region: Zhejiang Changxing Financial Holding Group Co., Ltd. (20.23%), Wenzhou State-owned Financial Capital Management Co., Ltd. (5.52%), Wenzhou Electric Power Investment Co., Ltd. (5.49%), Wenzhou Transportation Development Group Co., Ltd. (5.49%), and Guotai Junan Securities Yu Investment Co., Ltd. (4.95%).

As a result, Zhejiang Oriental became the company’s sole largest shareholder and controlling shareholder, and Sino-Korean Life transformed from a joint venture into a Chinese-controlled life insurance company.

Image source: Canned Library

Before the capital increase, Sino-Korean Life’s solvency was under pressure. In Q2 2022, its core solvency adequacy ratio was only 73.35%, and its comprehensive solvency adequacy ratio was 107.14%. The company’s risk rating was downgraded from B to C.

According to the original “Insurance Solvency Management Regulations” issued by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, insurers must maintain a core solvency ratio of at least 50%, a comprehensive ratio of at least 100%, and a risk rating of B or above to meet solvency standards. Sino-Korean Life was close to the regulatory red line. The capital increase largely alleviated solvency pressure, with core and comprehensive ratios soaring to 393.57% and 427.54% in Q3 2022.

However, in Q4 2025, the core solvency ratio of Oriental Jiafu Life was 111%, and the comprehensive ratio was 222%, significantly lower than the initial increase period three years earlier. Month-on-month, they declined by 17.04% and 34.09%, respectively. The company stated that this was mainly due to the rapid rise in bond market yields and the decline of the 750-day moving average government bond yield curve, leading to a decrease in actual capital.

Image source: Solvency report

3

Dividend insurance accounts for nearly 40%,

2025 investment income of 106 million yuan

The life insurance industry has long been known for “seven losses and eight break-even.” In the early stages, heavy investments are needed for establishing agencies, building teams, developing systems, and promoting brands. Profits from long-term insurance policies (especially long-term protection products) mainly come from the time difference between long-term premiums invested and risk coverage. High commissions, channel expenses, and reserve provisions in the early stages cause new business to show accounting losses.

New companies typically require a 7-8 year investment and business accumulation period. Only after early policies start to generate profits and scale effects emerge can they enter a stable profit phase. This reflects the “bitter first, sweet later” long-term business model of life insurance.

Since its founding in 2012, Oriental Jiafu Life has experienced eight consecutive years of losses. After a brief profit of 8.16 million yuan in 2020, it faced larger losses for three consecutive years, with a net profit of -327 million yuan in 2023, and a total loss of over 1.5 billion yuan in the first 12 years.

However, in 2024, the company began to turn losses into profits, with a net profit of only 10.21 million yuan; in 2025, its profitability further improved, with insurance business income reaching 3.972 billion yuan, up 23.74%; net profit was 60.08 million yuan, nearly five times higher. But the profit growth was mainly driven by the first three quarters, while in the fourth quarter of 2025, the company lost 45.17 million yuan.

This image may be AI-generated

Image source: Canned Library

Wang Zhaojiang, Executive Director of the Changcheng Investment Research Institute, analyzed that, “In Q4 2025, both the domestic stock and bond markets experienced a phased adjustment, with valuations of equities, funds, and convertible bonds generally falling. Oriental Jiafu Life earned 105 million yuan in the first three quarters but lost 45 million in Q4, a typical ‘roller coaster’ performance on the investment side. Additionally, year-end reserve provisions, expense settlements, policy surrenders, and maturity payout peaks can also cause profit declines.”

According to a rating report by United Credit, in 2025, Oriental Jiafu Life’s investment assets continued to grow rapidly, with a structure mainly composed of fixed income assets, whose proportion further increased. The allocation to equity assets remained relatively stable. By the end of 2025, the company had provisions for impairment of 86 million yuan on existing defaulted investments, with a default exposure of 33 million yuan.

Furthermore, in 2025, the company earned 278 million yuan in interest income and 106 million yuan in investment income, down 76.7% from 455 million yuan in 2024; fair value change gains were 279 million yuan, with an investment return rate of 4.43%, down 0.18% year-over-year; the comprehensive investment yield was 1.53%, down 4.33% year-over-year.

In terms of business structure, in 2024, traditional life insurance accounted for 54.5% of premium income at 1.748 billion yuan, making it the largest source. The second was dividend insurance, with 1.273 billion yuan, or 39.7%. The third was health insurance, with 177 million yuan, or 5.5%.

Image source: Oriental Jiafu Life Annual Report

The rating report by United Credit pointed out that the company’s premium sources still mainly come from traditional life and dividend insurance, with the proportion of traditional life further increasing to 63.43% in 2025.

In 2025, the company’s top product was Sino-Korean Le Ying Wealth Whole Life Insurance (dividend type). However, regarding the dividend realization rate of dividend products in 2025, only 4 out of 21 products achieved 100% dividend realization. The dividend realization rates for Sino-Korean Xi Ying Wealth A Whole Life Insurance (dividend type) and Sino-Korean Zhen Xi Whole Life Insurance (dividend type) were below 20%, at 19% and 15%, respectively.

Image source: Oriental Jiafu Life Official Website

Zhaojiang’s analysis suggests, “To prevent industry-wide interest margin risks and vicious competition, regulators have issued window guidance on the fluctuating liability costs of different-sized insurance companies’ variable return products. This means that even if the insurance company’s investment returns are higher, they may be required to keep dividend rates within certain limits.”

According to the “Guiding Opinions on Dividend Level Regulation for Dividend Insurance” issued in June 2025, if the proposed dividend level exceeds the company’s average investment return over the past three years, or if reserves are negative or turn negative after dividends, or if the account return exceeds the industry’s average return of 3.2% for less than three years, or if the company’s rating is 1-3 but the yield exceeds 3.2%, or if the rating is 4-5 but the yield exceeds the product’s guaranteed interest rate, the dividend plan must be thoroughly justified and approved by the Asset-Liability Management Committee.

Image source: Canned Library

Zhaojiang also pointed out, “Dividend insurance has a ‘special reserve’ account. When investment returns are good, the excess profits are not immediately distributed as dividends but are retained in this account. When returns are poor, funds are drawn from it to smooth dividends, maintaining stability. This lower realization rate may reflect the company’s proactive control of dividends and accumulation of surplus to prepare for future market fluctuations, demonstrating prudent management.”

“However, for channels and sales, if the dividend realization rate falls short of expectations, it may cause short-term reputation issues. Some consumers may not understand the regulatory smoothing mechanisms, and a realization rate below 100% can lead to disappointment, making sales more difficult. This requires sales personnel to have higher professionalism and be able to clearly explain the composition and logic behind the dividend realization rate; otherwise, it could hinder future sales of dividend insurance.” Zhaojiang said.

In the solvency report, Oriental Jiafu Life states that the company is building an integrated “product + investment + service” capability around dividend insurance transformation, and is cultivating differentiated advantages through channel reform and ecological innovation. On the product side, the company is also increasing its dividend insurance offerings. In January 2026, three new products were launched on the official website: Oriental Jiafu Jiafu No.1 Pension Annuity Insurance (dividend type), Oriental Jiafu Ruifu Life Pension Annuity Insurance (dividend type), and Oriental Jiafu Jiafu Bao Whole Life Insurance (dividend type).

Do you think Oriental Jiafu Life’s strategic layout in dividend insurance is promising? Share your thoughts in the comments.