Are brokers seriously selling insurance?

Staff Reporter Yu Hong

When you browse stock market quotes and make trades on a brokerage app, have you noticed that insurance products are quietly appearing alongside mutual funds and wealth management products? From million-dollar medical insurance to dividend insurance, from auto insurance to pet insurance—behind these seemingly simple product launches, a cross-industry breakthrough led by brokerages is quietly unfolding.

Faced with declining traditional commission income, brokerages are urgently transforming from “simple trading channels” to “comprehensive wealth managers.” Insurance products, with their unique protection features and long-term planning value, are increasingly becoming important tools for brokerages to extend their service chain and deepen full lifecycle customer service, as well as a key “puzzle piece” to fill gaps in their wealth management business.

The Insurance Section Emerges

Recently, reporters observed that many brokerage apps have newly added insurance sections, alongside “public offerings” and “wealth management,” providing investors with various types of insurance products. For example, CITIC Securities’ app features 20 insurance products for sale; GF Securities’ app has launched 8 insurance products; China Galaxy Securities’ app currently has 1 insurance product for sale. The insurance products offered by these apps mainly include life insurance, annuities, and health insurance.

A client manager from GF Securities told reporters that insurance products have a unique protective function, helping investors achieve goals such as retirement planning and wealth transfer while increasing their assets. This makes insurance a significant supplement to the traditional product lines focused on investment appreciation, and an important part of brokerages’ efforts to expand wealth management services.

According to the reporters’ review, the insurance products currently sold on brokerage apps are mainly dividend insurance. For example, of the 20 insurance products sold on CITIC Securities’ app, 14 are explicitly labeled as “dividend type”; the 8 insurance products launched on GF Securities’ app are also all dividend insurance.

In response, Long Ge, Deputy Director of the Innovation and Risk Management Research Center at the University of International Business and Economics, told Securities Daily: “Dividend insurance aligns well with the investment attributes of brokerage clients. Brokerage clients tend to have higher risk preferences and pursue wealth growth, so dividend insurance, which combines protection and floating returns, suits their needs. Additionally, selling such complex products allows brokerages to better leverage their professional advantages in asset allocation, making dividend insurance the mainstream insurance product sold through brokerage channels.”

However, currently, the insurance sections on brokerage apps are still relatively niche, with only a few institutions launching such features, mostly large, well-established brokerages. A person related to a listed brokerage told reporters, “Our app’s insurance section is still in trial operation, and related business processes and service standards are continuously being optimized.”

To better understand the situation, reporters recently visited multiple brokerage branches in Beijing. Currently, only a few branches are engaged in insurance agency sales. A staff member from a leading brokerage branch said that although the company has obtained an insurance sales license, not all branches are qualified to operate in this area. Currently, only some branches have been approved to carry out related business, but in the future, more offline outlets may be authorized to do so.

Regarding the phenomenon of brokerages actively developing insurance agency sales, Wu Xiaowei, a global partner at McKinsey and head of China’s insurance consulting business, told Securities Daily: “The core goal for brokerages to develop insurance agency sales is to better build a ‘customer financial service portal.’ Their advantage lies in asset management capabilities, enabling them to integrate insurance, funds, and other financial products to provide comprehensive financial planning and asset allocation services from protection to investment. Developing insurance agency sales not only helps fill gaps in the business chain and optimize revenue structures but also significantly enhances customer stickiness, giving brokerages a competitive edge in customer portals.”

From Breaking Through Qualifications to Building Trust

The opening of online insurance sections depends on breaking through qualification barriers. Regarding the qualifications for brokerages to sell insurance products, reporters found that 11 brokerages have obtained insurance intermediary licenses issued by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. For example, Pacific Securities received its insurance intermediary license as early as 2005; Ping An Securities, GF Securities, and others obtained theirs in 2013; CITIC Securities’ license was approved in 2022. All these licenses were issued between 2022 and 2024.

Looking at industry pioneers, in 2022, CITIC Securities officially launched its insurance agency sales business, becoming the first in the industry to be approved for insurance agency operations with a “legal person license and branch registration.” Since then, several licensed brokerages have begun testing insurance agency sales at their offline branches, though on a limited scale.

Recently, many brokerages have been actively building online platforms for their insurance sections. Experts interviewed said that shifting from scattered, small-scale offline sales to accelerating the development of online insurance sections aims to make insurance agency sales more systematic, scaled, and standardized, laying a foundation for deeper future operations. More importantly, these initiatives are supported by policies. In July 2025, the China Securities Industry Association issued the “Implementation Opinions on Strengthening Self-Regulation and Promoting High-Quality Development of the Securities Industry,” which mentions steadily promoting more compliant and risk-controlled brokerages to obtain licenses for bank wealth management and insurance product sales.

“Brokerages increasing investment in insurance agency sales may be driven by multiple strategic considerations,” Long Ge told reporters. “First, policy requirements for brokerages to strengthen their role in helping residents with asset allocation and to promote wealth management transformation; second, the huge demand and potential for wealth management services attract brokerages to seize growth opportunities; third, brokerage performance is closely linked to capital market conditions, with revenue often fluctuating significantly with market cycles. In this context, brokerages are actively promoting diversified income structures, and income from insurance agency sales, which is less correlated with market fluctuations, helps stabilize revenue.”

Overall, the insurance sections on brokerage apps will display detailed product information, including product descriptions, coverage details, suitability classifications, features, case studies, and related agreements. Brokerages are also enhancing advisory services—for example, Ping An Securities’ app has set up dedicated live broadcast rooms to introduce “insurance selection guides.”

But do investors “buy into” this emerging insurance purchase channel on brokerage platforms? Through conversations with multiple investors and client managers, reporters learned that compared to direct sales by insurance companies and bank agency sales, brokerage online insurance sales are more reliant on existing customers and less effective at attracting new clients. The key factors influencing whether investors choose to buy insurance products on brokerage platforms are service quality and trust in the brokerage.

“At the core, service is king. First, whether the broker’s investment advisor (or client manager) can clearly explain the advantages and mechanisms of insurance products to clients; second, how well the advisor integrates insurance into the client’s overall asset allocation plan, addressing pain points and meeting needs precisely; third, the long-term service quality and whether a deep trust relationship has been established,” a wealth management professional from a brokerage told reporters.

Accelerating the Reconstruction of the Wealth Management Ecosystem

The “cross-industry” push of brokerages into insurance agency sales is not just about adding new services but reflects their efforts to accelerate the expansion of their wealth management business and deepen the transformation from brokerage to comprehensive wealth manager.

Currently, brokerage commission rates are continuously declining. By 2025, the commission rate for A-shares in Shanghai has fallen below 0.02%, a significant drop from the previous year. Meanwhile, the new era demands brokerages to better serve as professional “managers” of social wealth.

Chen Yinhua, director of the Western Financial Research Institute, told Securities Daily: “Insurance products can diversify brokerages’ mainly equity-based product structures, forming asset allocation portfolios that include high risk-high return, low risk-stable return, and protection-oriented options, covering investors with various risk preferences. Moreover, developing insurance agency sales requires brokerages to deeply understand clients’ family structures, financial situations, and risk preferences, promoting the upgrade of investment advisors to ‘comprehensive wealth planners.’ This enhances their capabilities in asset allocation, risk management, and tax planning, relying on integrated ‘investment + protection’ solutions to shift the role of brokerages from ‘single transactions’ to ‘lifetime wealth companions.’”

However, competing in the fiercely contested insurance agency sales market is no easy task for brokerages. Long Ge believes that while expanding insurance agency sales will add an important channel for insurance product sales, brokerages, as latecomers, do not yet hold a dominant market position and still need to explore and adapt.

A non-banking financial industry analyst from North China commented: “Currently, in the early stages of business expansion, brokerages face challenges in product development, staffing, assessment mechanisms, and channel deployment. But in the future, insurance agency sales are expected to effectively enrich clients’ asset allocation options, thereby improving client retention and overall revenue.”

“Ensuring compliance is paramount for brokerages entering this new arena,” said Zou Ye, a partner at Beijing Zhude Law Firm and member of the Legal and Compliance Committee of the China Banking and Insurance Asset Management Association. “Brokerages need to obtain insurance sales licenses and register their practitioners as insurance intermediaries. Since insurance products differ significantly from funds and other asset management products, practitioners must deepen their understanding of complex insurance products, adjust sales strategies, and carefully manage sales rules and customer needs.”

Looking ahead, Wu Xiaowei stated that insurance agency sales have considerable growth potential and could become an important revenue driver for brokerages. The key to success lies in providing more professional asset allocation services than banks and other channels. Only then can insurance agency sales truly integrate into the wealth management landscape and help brokerages transition from “simple trading channels” to “comprehensive wealth managers.”