Listed Insurance Companies Annual Report Review | Life Insurance Industry: Building a Healthy Multi-Channel Growth Pattern

Ask AI · What are the key drivers behind silver-brokerage channel growth of over 100%?

In 2025, against the backdrop of further deepening transformation in the life insurance industry, the industry is accelerating the building of an all-channel development pattern of “multiple points of support and multi-polar driving.” Among them, the silver-brokerage channel—powered by both policy tailwinds and market demand—has entered a new round of a golden growth period, becoming the core engine of industry growth.

Based on the annual reports recently released by various listed insurance companies, in 2025 the silver-brokerage channel generally achieved both scale growth and value growth. New business value at companies such as Ping An Life and Tai Bao Life Insurance rose by more than 100% year over year. At the same time, as the “basic盤” individual insurance (agent) channel continued to optimize team quality and per-capita productivity, its new business value contribution remained solid.

1

Silver-brokerage channel sees growth in both scale and value

In 2025, listed insurers’ silver-brokerage business performance was especially strong. Data show that China Life’s silver-brokerage channel total premium reached RMB 110.87B, up 45.5%. Of this, new single premiums were RMB 585.1 billion, up 95.7%, with a contribution rate of 25% to the company’s new single premiums. Ping An Life’s silver-brokerage channel achieved scale premiums of RMB 58.51B, up 50.29%. Tai Bao Life Insurance’s silver-brokerage channel achieved scale premiums of RMB 71.52B, up 46.4%; of this, new policy initial premium paid over the policy term (premium paid during the coverage period) was RMB 169.56 billion, up 43.2%. New China Life Insurance’s silver-brokerage channel premium income was RMB 16.96B, up 39.5%. In addition, silver-brokerage channels at companies such as People’s Insurance of China Life, Taiping Life, AIA Life, and Sunshine Life also recorded significant growth.

Meanwhile, insurers continued to expand cooperation with partner banks, optimize product structures, and strengthen risk management, achieving synchronized growth in premiums and new business value. For example, Tai Bao Life Insurance continued to promote channel structure optimization, achieving comprehensive business cooperation with all state-owned large banks. In the six major state-owned commercial banks, the share increased by 0.3 percentage points year over year. It also explored integrated development with joint-stock banks, with its share in joint-stock banks continuing to stay ahead. In 2025, the company’s silver-brokerage channel new business value was RMB 6.7 billion, up 102.7% year over year.

Ping An Life restarted its silver-brokerage channel with banks other than Ping An Bank in 2023. By the end of 2025, it had partnerships with the six major state-owned commercial banks, major joint-stock banks, and high-quality city commercial banks. The number of bank-operated business outlets that can be operated was 25k. The number of silver-brokerage specialists exceeded 9,000. In 2025, the company’s silver-brokerage channel new business value grew 138% year over year.

AIA Life’s silver-brokerage channel achieved differentiated development by focusing on high-net-worth customers and highly selective partners, contributing 15% to new business value in 2025.

At present, the silver-brokerage channel’s rapid growth is mainly driven by multiple factors. According to a relevant executive at Tai Ping Life Insurance, on the market side, as deposits in the residents’ multi-trillion-yuan deposit pool reach maturity, the silver-brokerage channel has become the most direct receiving channel. On the banking side, there is a growing demand for middle-income business revenue. On the insurance company side, under the “reporting, issuing, and management as one” (报行合一) policy, costs in the silver-brokerage channel are saved and the value ratio has risen sharply, making a significant contribution to the company’s overall value and profits. On the customer side, in the low-interest-rate era, customers’ needs have shifted from high yield to stable yield and long-term locking in; “fixed + floating” dividend insurance aligns well with customer demand.

2

Enhance all-channel business capabilities

Although the silver-brokerage channel’s growth rate is notable, multiple listed insurers have clearly stated that their individual agent (individual insurance) channel’s positioning as the core channel remains unchanged.

China Life’s President Li Mingguang emphasized that among all sales channels, the individual agent channel gives full play to the main channel role, and the ability for sustainable development remains solid. In scale terms, total channel premiums reached RMB 72.1B, up 4.3%. In value terms, one-year new business value was RMB 39.3 billion, up 25.5%, with a value contribution of 85.9%. As of the end of 2025, China Life’s individual insurance sales headcount was 587k, of which the marketing team was 371k and the business development team was 216k. The quality of the teams continued to improve, with added personnel increasing 40% year over year.

When discussing channel development, Li Mingguang said China Life gives full play to its all-channel operating advantages, with the individual agent channel as the core “basic盤,” and channels such as silver-brokerage and group insurance (“团险”) blooming in multiple areas, continuously improving the level of specialized channel operations.

“The positioning of individual insurance as the company’s core channel has never changed. It won’t change, and it will never change in the future,” said Gong Xingfeng, President and Chief Financial Officer of New China Life.

It is understood that in 2025, New China Life promoted a transformation from traditional life insurance sales models to modern sales models, advancing the “strong division, excellent group” reform to effectively stimulate frontline teams’ initiative for independent operations. The scale headcount in the individual insurance channel stabilized, with agent headcount exceeding 130k. Both the monthly average qualification rate and the top-performer rate improved, and monthly average per-capita comprehensive production increased 43% year over year.

Guo Xiaotao, Co-CEO of Ping An, said that Ping An’s life insurance channels include the individual insurance channel, the silver-brokerage channel, and the community finance channel. With such a balanced channel structure, the company can effectively withstand the impact of market fluctuations on performance.

3

Steady growth and deeper compliance

For the development of the life insurance industry in 2026, industry observers generally expect continued rapid growth in new business premiums for listed insurers, and have already regarded the silver-brokerage channel as one of the strategic channels driving future growth. At the same time, they emphasize achieving high-quality development within a compliant framework.

A research report from Guojin Securities suggests that looking ahead, the silver-brokerage channel will directly benefit from the moving of residents’ deposits. Customers’ advantages and account advantages are clear. Combined with the increased enthusiasm and advantages of large insurers in developing the silver-brokerage market, it is expected that premiums for new business with initial period payments will continue to grow well.

“Life insurance companies highly value silver-brokerage business. Customer needs are becoming increasingly diversified, and banks are showing a rigid increase in their demand for integrated needs. Driven by these factors, new business premiums in the silver-brokerage channel are expected to show steady growth,” said Wang Lianwen, Vice President of New China Life, adding that in 2026, New China Life’s silver-brokerage channel will seize market opportunities and further deepen cooperation with banks, closely following the path to mutual benefit under the financial system’s “five major articles” (金融‘五篇大文章’) to seek win-win outcomes. It will further strengthen technology empowerment to improve teams’ professional literacy and comprehensive service capabilities. It will further expand its ecosystem circle to meet customers’ diversified and whole life-cycle protection and service needs.

“Taiping Life has positioned the silver-brokerage channel as an important engine and main force for the company’s development during this stage. It plans to invest corresponding strategic resources to provide strong support around team building, product supply, policy support, and other areas,” said a relevant executive from Taiping Life. In terms of coordinated cooperation, it will start from three dimensions: asset-side coordination, product-side coordination, and coordinated resources for care and health services, working in depth with banks to effectively serve customers. At the same time, it will strictly standardize compliant operations and, in accordance with regulatory requirements, jointly safeguard customers’ rights and interests with banks.

Li Mingguang said that next, China Life’s silver-brokerage channel will take deep channel cultivation and a leap in outlet capacity as key breakpoints, support the improvement of team strength, upgrade professional capabilities, deepen the cooperation ecosystem, and continuously enhance the channel’s contribution.

Of note is that recently, the regulatory authorities issued the “Notice on Further Strengthening the Management of Bank-Agency Channel Fees” (hereinafter referred to as the “Notice”). According to the Notice, when an insurance company submits bank-agency channel product filings, in addition to the fee levels previously required—such as commissions paid to banks— it must also report fee levels for silver-brokerage specialists, including compensation incentives, training, and customer service fees.

Industry insiders said that during the rapid development of silver-brokerage business, there are still some risk points worth giving high attention, such as the emergence of “small-book” issues. With the implementation of the Notice, regulators will further refine fee management for the silver-brokerage channel, effectively curbing hidden expenses and improper incentives. This will help guide companies to improve the precision management of cost and expense, and promote fair competition in the industry and steady, healthy development.

《China Banking and Insurance News》 reporter Zhu Yanxia

《China Banking and Insurance News》 editor Li Mengxi