Perusahaan asuransi terdaftar memimpin dengan kenaikan gaji rata-rata 10%, kenyataan tentang remunerasi perusahaan asuransi yang terdaftar: kenaikan gaji karyawan, penurunan gaji eksekutif, pengurangan karyawan dan peningkatan efisiensi menjadi kunci

Reporter of Interface News | Feng Lijun

At present, the five largest listed insurance groups in the A-share market have all disclosed their 2025 annual reports.

Based on the 2025 annual report data, the average remuneration per employee of listed insurance firms continues the growth trend seen in 2024, and the average profit creation per employee has also generally increased. However, this is under the circumstance that the 2025 net profit of the aforementioned insurers has grown, while the total number of employees has decreased. As for the total remuneration of management, in 2025 the overall trend basically continues the decline seen in 2024: the remuneration of management at China Life (601628.SH) and PICC (601319.SH) has fallen sharply.

“From the 2025 annual report data of listed insurers, it can be seen that the ‘pay-cut wave’ in the financial sector has effectively spread to the insurance sector, but it shows clear structural characteristics.” Fu Yifu, a special research fellow at JOS Group Bank, told Interface News. Overall, this pattern releases positive signals: the insurance industry is shifting from “scale expansion” to “value growth,” and by optimizing human resource structures and correcting compensation allocation, it improves capital returns and employee efficiency.

Average remuneration at Ping An increases by 10%

According to Wind data, in 2025, the five largest listed insurers—New China Life (601336.SH), China Taiping (601601.SH), China Life, PICC, and Ping An (601318.SH)—all saw growth in average remuneration per employee. The growth rates were 6.17%, 3.33%, 6.89%, 4.79%, and 10.01%, respectively.

In absolute terms, PICC’s average remuneration per employee remains the leader. According to Wind data, PICC’s average remuneration per employee in 2025 was 391.7k yuan. Next was Ping An at 355.2k yuan, while China Life’s average remuneration per employee was the lowest at 286.3k yuan.

Data source: Wind

In fact, in 2024, the average remuneration per employee of the five listed insurers rose across the board: New China Life rose by nearly 30%, China Life rose by more than 20%, Ping An’s average remuneration per employee increased by 17.33%, and PICC and China Taiping both rose by less than 10%.

Data source: Wind; Interface News reporter compiled charts

In 2025, the continued increase in average remuneration per employee among listed insurers was built on the backdrop of a big jump in net profits in 2025. In 2025, China Taiping, China Life, PICC, Ping An, and New China Life’s net profit growth rates were 19.01%, 44.09%, 8.81%, 6.45%, and 38.34%, respectively.

Meanwhile, regarding the total number of employees, according to Wind data, by the end of 2025, only PICC’s total number of employees increased from 175,121 at the end of 2024 to 179,898, up 2.73%. The other four firms all reduced staff to varying degrees: China Taiping’s total number of employees decreased by 3,351, accounting for 3.53%; China Life decreased by 1,184, accounting for 1.20%; Ping An decreased by 14,247 positions, with a reduction rate of 5.22%; and New China Life reduced by 949, with a reduction rate of 3.31%.

Against this backdrop, China Taiping, China Life, PICC, Ping An, and New China Life’s average profit creation per employee in 2025 increased by 23.36%, 45.84%, 5.92%, 12.31%, and 43.07%, respectively.

“Ordinary employees’ average remuneration increased slightly, achieved against the backdrop that the total number of employees generally decreased—this means that companies focus more on ‘improving quality and efficiency,’ retaining high-performance personnel and optimizing redundancy, and average profit creation per employee rises accordingly. This is a healthy approach to cost management, not simply a wage cut.” Fu Yifu said to Interface News.

“Through layoffs to streamline low-efficiency positions, while retaining core productivity employees and increasing compensation, the five insurers achieve an increase in profit creation per employee. The result is that average remuneration rises and the total number of employees falls—this is the outcome of reducing staff to improve efficiency.” Wang Guojun, a professor at the School of Insurance of University of International Business and Economics, told Interface News.

However, Wang Guojun emphasized that net profit growth does not mean a recovery of the industry; investment gains are the main contributor. The growth in net profits of insurers in 2025 was mainly due to a favorable equity market—for example, China Life’s total investment return rate reached 6.09%, a new high in nearly ten years. But the growth of new business value inherent to insurance business itself still remains weak, and the industry’s transformation is still underway.

Management compensation continues the downward trend overall

Regarding management compensation, according to Wind data, in 2024 the total annual remuneration of management at the five listed insurers generally declined, and in 2025 this trend continued.

“In 2025, the total remuneration of pay for directors, supervisors, and senior executives at the five insurers decreased year on year by about 6.8%.” Wang Guojun told Interface News. The decline in management compensation is the result of both regulatory measures and industry transformation. On one hand, it is due to the Ministry of Finance’s restrictions on compensation for financial executives; on the other hand, insurers are shifting from “scale expansion” to “value operations,” paying more attention to long-term performance rather than short-term incentives.

Fu Yifu said to Interface News that management’s total compensation continues to decline, indicating that “executives have tighter days” has become a common understanding in the industry. This both responds to the regulatory direction of linking financial-sector compensation to risk and strengthening corporate governance, and also reflects insurers’ operating logic of proactively compressing administrative costs under pressure from spread losses.

However, there are also some executives whose pay increased significantly in 2025 due to reasons such as holding other positions concurrently.

In detail, China Life’s total annual remuneration of management declined by 32.74%. Among them, Chief Actuary Hou Jin concurrently served as assistant to the president in 2025, and his salary increased by nearly 20%.

Data source: company annual reports; Interface News reporter compiled charts

In 2025, China Taiping’s total annual management remuneration increased year on year by 5.89%. Among them, Vice President, Chief Investment Officer, and Finance负责人 Su Gang saw a year-on-year decrease of more than 30% in his pre-tax income in 2025. Meanwhile, Board Secretary Su Shaojun’s total pre-tax salary increased by 34.03% in 2025, and total legal counsel, chief audit officer, and audit负责人 Zhang Weidong’s growth was nearly 30%.

Data source: company annual reports; Interface News reporter compiled charts

It should be noted that, according to the 《Guiding Opinions on Compensation Management for Insurance Companies (Trial)》 (No. 63 [2012] issued by CBIRC) and the relevant company rules on compensation payments, the performance compensation for senior management will be paid with delay. The total compensation amount mentioned in the article includes the portion that needs to be paid with delay (the same below).

For PICC, the total annual remuneration of management decreased by 19.92%, but judging from the compensation of some executives in 2024–2025, the changes are not large.

Data source: company annual reports; Interface News reporter compiled charts

New China Life’s total annual management remuneration increased by 9.11%. Chairman and Executive Director Yang Yucheng’s pre-tax remuneration in 2025 decreased slightly by 3.36%; and the remuneration of multiple senior executives such as Vice President and Assistant to the President achieved single-digit growth.

Data source: company annual reports; Interface News reporter compiled charts

As a market-oriented insurer, Ping An’s executive compensation is clearly more competitive compared with other insurers. In 2025, its total annual after-tax remuneration of management decreased by 8.93% compared with 2024. Among them, Ping An’s Executive Director, Co-CEO, and Deputy General Manager Guo Xiaotao’s after-tax annual salary was 7.71 million yuan; the individual income tax paid in 2025 was about 5.72 million yuan. A sharp contrast is that, in 2025, PICC and China Life’s management’s total pre-tax salaries were 9.4009 million yuan and 10.9254 million yuan, respectively.

In addition, Ping An’s Assistant General Manager and Chief Risk Officer Guo Shibang’s after-tax salary in 2025 increased by nearly 33%; Executive Director and Deputy General Manager Fu Xin concurrently served as Chief Financial Officer (Finance负责人) in 2025, and his after-tax salary increased by more than 14%.

Data source: company annual reports; Interface News reporter compiled charts

In its annual report, Ping An stated that part of the performance compensation for the company’s senior management will be paid with delay, with a payment period of 3 years. Among them, the proportion of delayed payments for the chairman and general manager is 50%, and the delayed payment proportion for other senior management is 40%. In the reporting period, the company includes the compensation already settled by the company for senior management, among which includes the portion that has been deferred and not yet paid.

“Senior management’s evaluation scheme is determined by the company in combination with business plans, risk compliance, and social responsibility requirements. The evaluation results are linked to the performance compensation of senior management, and all senior management have achieved the 2025 evaluation targets.” Ping An said in its annual report.

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