Strengthen cost control measures and close all loopholes for disguised payments. The new regulations for the banking and insurance channels will reshape the industry's competitive landscape.

Regulators have stepped in again to standardize the insurance-and-bank distribution (bank insurance) channel for insurance and wealth management institutions. Reporters learned from industry insiders that the State Administration of Financial Regulation’s Personal Insurance Supervision Department has recently issued the “Notice on Further Strengthening Fee Management for Bank-Agency Channels” (hereinafter referred to as the “Notice”), along with supporting Q&A implementation rules. The new rules focus on the long-standing problem of chaos in fees within bank insurance channels, strengthening fee controls across the entire process and across all perspectives.

From the development of bank insurance channels by insurers, in 2025, many A-share listed insurers saw both their bank-insurance channel premium income and new business value increase significantly year over year. Industry insiders believe that with this new rule taking effect, it will further shift the bank-insurance track from the crude competition of “competing on fees” and “racing for market share” toward high-quality development driven by “competing on products” and “competing on services.” In the short term, it may slightly suppress the growth rate of the business for some insurers, while in the long term it will lay a solid foundation for the industry’s sound, sustainable development.

Tightening the “leaks” in fees

Compared with previous regulatory requirements, the new rules are more detailed and stricter, with the core focus on whole-cost closed-loop management.

“As for the new rules, all costs with an all-encompassing scope—namely the commissions insurance companies pay to banks, salary and incentive schemes for bank-insurance specialists, training and customer service fees, and allocated fixed expenses—are brought under filing-based oversight, closing every back door for disguised fee payments. More importantly, responsibility is pinned down to specific roles: the chief actuary, the person in charge of finance, and the head of each branch or office. If anyone violates the rules, their responsibility will be pursued.” Longge, co-founder and general manager of Zhengtoubang, told Securities Daily reporters.

The Notice requires that insurance companies should implement their fee policies in accordance with the actuarial reports for products that have been filed. It also calls for strengthening management of the authenticity, compliance, and fine-grained nature of fees, and incorporating “report-to-bank, manage-by-bank as one” (报行合一) compliance management into internal performance evaluation and accountability mechanisms. Meanwhile, each financial regulatory bureau continues to conduct on-site inspections of “report-to-bank, manage-by-bank as one.” The regulatory authorities also establish an industry briefing mechanism for “report-to-bank, manage-by-bank as one” violations and typical cases.

Wang Guojun, a professor at the School of Insurance, University of International Business and Economics, said in an interview with Securities Daily reporters that the implementation of the new regulatory rules will have a clear impact on bank insurance business. When banks choose partners, they will no longer only look at who offers higher underwriting fees, but will instead place more emphasis on whether the insurer’s products are easy to sell, whether its services are in place, and whether its brand has appeal and influence. Cooperation will shift from “competing on price” to “competing on strength.” At the same time, it is expected that the new rules will further intensify the “Matthew effect.” Large leading insurers, benefiting from their brand, products, and service advantages, are more likely to win favor from banks, enabling them to capture more market share.

Dual growth in both scale and value

In fact, large insurers represented by A-share listed insurers have already achieved both scale and value growth in their 2025 operations, breaking the entrenched impression that bank insurance business has relatively low value. With the new regulatory rules taking effect, the whole industry’s bank insurance business is expected to develop in a healthier manner.

In terms of premium scale, last year, many leading insurers’ bank-insurance channel premium revenues recorded double-digit growth. Overall performance was impressive. Among them, for Taikang Life’s bank-insurance channel, premium income was RMB 61.618 billion, up 46.4% year over year; for China Life’s bank-insurance channel, all key core indicators improved comprehensively, with total premiums exceeding RMB 100 billion for the first time, reaching RMB 110.874 billion, up 45.5% year over year; for New China Life’s bank-insurance channel, total premiums were RMB 72.102 billion, up 39.5% year over year; and for PICC Life’s bank-insurance channel, premium income was RMB 68.278 billion, up 33.5% year over year.

More notably, the ability to create value through bank-insurance channels achieved a qualitative leap: the growth rate of new business value far outpaced the growth rate of premiums, becoming the core engine driving overall value growth for insurers. For example, in 2025, PICC Life’s bank-insurance channel achieved new business value of RMB 4.672 billion, a year-over-year increase of 102.3% on a comparable basis; New China Life’s bank-insurance channel achieved new business value of RMB 5.273 billion, a year-over-year surge of 110.2%, reaching the highest level in the company’s history.

With regard to bank-insurance channels, leading insurers have continued to increase resource investment and step up their deployment efforts. Lan Yonghong, an assistant to the president of China Life, recently said that individual insurance (individual channel) is the company’s core channel and fundamental base, while bank insurance is a strategic development channel. China Life will fully leverage its advantages in brand, coverage of outlets, and teams, seize current development opportunities, and achieve better development of its bank-insurance business.

“ We will elevate the bank-insurance channel to a strategic height, seize the policy opportunity of ‘report-to-bank, manage-by-bank as one,’ optimize channel layout, strengthen fine-grained management of grassroots outlets, and continue to deepen product transformation and team building,” said Yang Yucheng, chairman of New China Life.

When discussing bank-insurance market trends for 2026, Wang Lianwen, vice president of New China Life, believes that three major features are expected to emerge: first, the overall scale of the bank-insurance market will continue to grow steadily; second, demands from multiple parties will significantly increase— as the “report-to-bank, manage-by-bank as one” policy is pushed deeper— so bank-insurance business should seek development within compliance, and create value while developing; third, the market structure will accelerate its divergence, the “Matthew effect” will become even more prominent, and insurers with a high level of specialization and strong asset-liability management capabilities will further capture early market opportunities, guiding the industry toward high-quality development.

Longge believes that with the implementation of the new regulatory rules, in the short term, the practice of insurers previously using high fees to drive scale will be halted; the growth rate of bank-insurance channel premiums may slow down, but the fee structure will be more transparent, leaving no room for those former “small accounts” and “hidden accounts.” In the long term, competition will shift from “competing on fees” to “competing on products, investments, and services,” and the value contribution of bank-insurance channels will continue to rise, truly enabling coordinated development across compliance, scale, and value.

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