New regulations for bancassurance channels will reshape the industry's competitive landscape

Regulators have moved again to further standardize the insurance–banking (bancassurance) distribution channel for bank–insurance cooperation. A reporter learned from industry insiders that the National Financial Regulatory Administration’s Life Insurance Supervision Department recently issued the “Notice on Further Strengthening Fee Management in Bank-Agency Channels” (hereinafter referred to as the “Notice”) and supporting Q&A implementation rules. The new rules focus on long-standing issues with fees in bancassurance channels, strengthening fee oversight across the entire process and on an all-inclusive basis.

Judging from the development of bancassurance channels for insurers, in 2025, many listed insurance companies in China’s A-share market saw substantial year-over-year growth in bancassurance premium income and new business value. Industry insiders believe that with the implementation of these new rules, the bancassurance sector will be further pushed away from the crude competition of “competing on fees and抢-taking 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 rates of some insurers’ business; in the long run, it will lay a solid foundation for the industry’s stable, sustainable development.

Tightening the net on fee loopholes

Compared with earlier regulatory requirements, the provisions of the new rules are more detailed and stricter, with the core focus on full-cost closed-loop management.

“Under the new rules, all-inclusive costs—such as commissions paid by an insurance company to a bank, salary and incentive payments for bancassurance specialists, training and customer service fees, and allocated fixed expenses—are included in the filing-and-regulatory oversight,堵ing up every backdoor for disguised fee payments. More importantly, responsibilities are clearly assigned to specific parties: the chief actuary, the finance负责人, and the head of each branch organization. If anyone violates the rules, they will be held accountable.” Long Ge, co-founder and general manager of Tongtu Bang, told a reporter from The Securities Daily.

The Notice requires that insurance companies implement their fee policies according to the actuarial reports for products that have been filed for approval. It also calls for strengthening the authenticity, compliance, and refined management of fees, and incorporating “报行合一” compliance management into internal performance evaluation and accountability mechanisms. Meanwhile, each financial regulatory bureau continues to carry out on-site inspections of “报行合一,” and regulatory departments establish an industry notification mechanism for violations of “报行合一” and typical cases.

Wang Guojun, a professor at the School of Insurance of University of International Business and Economics, told a reporter from The Securities Daily that the rollout of the new regulatory rules will have a clear impact on bancassurance business. When banks choose partners, they will no longer look only at who offers higher commission/fees; instead, they will place greater emphasis on whether the insurer’s products are easy to sell, whether service delivery is in place, and whether the brand has influence. Cooperation will shift from “competing on price” to “competing on strength.” At the same time, the new rules are expected to further intensify “Matthew effect.” Large leading insurers that benefit from their brands, products, and service advantages are more likely to win bank favor, enabling them to capture more market share.

Dual growth in scale and value

In fact, large insurers represented by listed insurers in China’s A-share market have already achieved dual growth in both scale and value in their 2025 operations, breaking the longstanding perception that bancassurance business has lower value. With the rollout of the new regulatory rules, bancassurance business across the industry is expected to develop in a healthier way.

In terms of premium scale, last year, many leading insurers’ bancassurance channel premiums achieved high double-digit growth, and overall performance was impressive. Specifically: China Pacific Life’s bancassurance channel premium income was 61.618 billion yuan, up 46.4% year over year; China Life’s overall core indicators improved across the board, with total premiums exceeding 100 billion yuan for the first time, reaching 110.874 billion yuan, up 45.5% year over year; New China Life’s bancassurance channel total premiums were 72.102 billion yuan, up 39.5% year over year; and Ping An Life’s bancassurance channel premium income was 68.278 billion yuan, up 33.5% year over year.

More noteworthy is that value creation capability in bancassurance channels achieved a qualitative leap. The growth rate of new business value far exceeded the growth rate of premiums, becoming the core engine driving overall value growth for insurers. For example, in 2025, Ping An Life’s bancassurance channel generated new business value of 4.672 billion yuan, a year-over-year increase of 102.3% on a comparable basis; New China Life’s bancassurance channel generated new business value of 5.273 billion yuan, surging 110.2% year over year, reaching a new historical high for the company.

For bancassurance channels, leading insurers have continued to increase resource investment and intensify their deployment efforts. Lan Yonghong, Assistant to the President of China Life, recently said that individual insurance (i.e., the individual sales channel) is the company’s core channel and basic platform, while bancassurance is a strategic development channel. China Life will fully leverage its strengths in brand, coverage of branch outlets, and agent teams, seize the opportunities presented by current development, and promote better growth of its bancassurance business.

“ We will elevate bancassurance channels to a strategic level, seize the policy opportunity of ‘报行合一,’ optimize channel layout, strengthen refined management of grassroots outlets, and continue to deepen product transformation and team building,” said Yang Yucheng, Chairman of New China Life.

When discussing the bancassurance market trends in 2026, Wang Lianwen, Vice President of New China Life, believes they will show three major characteristics: first, the total market scale of bancassurance will continue to grow steadily; second, requirements from multiple parties will significantly increase— as the “报行合一” policy is pushed deeper, bancassurance business must seek growth in compliance and create value in development; third, the market structure will accelerate in differentiation, with the Matthew effect becoming even more prominent. Insurance companies with high levels of specialization and strong asset-liability management capabilities will further seize early market opportunities and lead the industry toward high-quality development.

Long Ge believes that with the rollout of the new regulatory rules, in the short term, the practice of insurers previously relying on high fees to grow scale will be stopped. The premium growth rate in bancassurance channels may slow down, but fee structures will be more transparent, and there will no longer be room for those “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 bancassurance channels will continue to improve, truly achieving coordinated development across compliance, scale, and value.