Від премії до відхилення на торгах: міф про ліцензію страхового посередника зруйновано

21st Century Economic Report reporter Lin Hanyang, intern Tu Shengqing

Recently, the performance of insurance intermediary institutions’ equity on judicial auction platforms has continued to be sluggish. The “insurance intermediary licenses” that were once chased by capital are now clearly cooling down.

Since March 2026, on Alibaba Assets’ judicial auction platform, multiple pieces of insurance intermediary institutions’ equity have entered auction or liquidation procedures, including Shenzhen Sheng’an Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd.’s 10% equity, Baocheng Insurance Sales Co., Ltd.’s 100% equity, Guizhou Zhongyang Insurance Agency Co., Ltd.’s 90% equity, etc. Although some projects attracted many onlookers, there are not many people who actually registered to compete, and the phenomenon of auctions failing is frequent.

From the “scarce resources” that capital competed for several years ago, to the situation today where even repeated price reductions still leave them unclaimed, the insurance intermediary industry is shifting from the early stage of “relying on license dividend” into a mature stage in which ability and efficiency are the core.

Regarding this change, Zhu Junsheng, a postdoctoral fellow and professor in applied economics at Peking University, believes that this is not simple cyclical fluctuation, but a deep restructuring driven jointly by regulation, the market, and capability structures. In the short term, it is institutional clearance and profit pressure; in the medium to long term, it is the process of the industry evolving toward professionalization, concentration, and value realization.

“Intermediary institutions that can truly get through cycles will no longer rely on fee dividends. Instead, they will build sustainable long-term value by relying on customers, capabilities, and services,” Zhu Junsheng said.

Insurance intermediary equity turns cold

(Фото: платформа Alibaba Assets)

Based on recent publicly available information, the cooling of insurance intermediary equity transactions is not a single case, but a fairly common market phenomenon.

According to incomplete statistics, in the past two years, the failed-auction rate of insurance intermediary equity on Alibaba Assets has exceeded 50%. Since at least March 2026 alone, at least 5 insurance intermediary institutions’ equity have been put on the auction block, and the starting prices are mostly in the range of several million yuan; overall market reaction has been flat.

Public information from the Alibaba Assets platform shows that Shenzhen Sheng’an Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd.’s 10% equity was publicly auctioned in mid-March 2026, with a starting price of 3.0336 million yuan, 439 viewings, and 0 registrations.

Baоcheng Insurance Sales Co., Ltd.’s 100% equity will be liquidated on April 1 with a starting price of 6.3777 million yuan, 501 viewings, and 0 registrations.

Guizhou Zhongyang Insurance Agency Co., Ltd.’s 90% equity will be auctioned with a starting price of 3.0720 million yuan; this is the second time this asset has been listed.

Jijian Insurance Brokerage’s 100% equity has already been listed for the 6th time on the auction block this year. The starting price has fallen from 50 million yuan all the way to 16.38M yuan.

(Фото: платформа Alibaba Assets)

Some insurance intermediary institutions that have been auctioned have shown operational abnormalities.

According to the auction announcement, Guizhou Zhongyang Insurance Agency has been included in the list of business abnormalities. The issue date of its 《Insurance Intermediary License》 is June 28, 2022. The announcement specifically notes: “Because the company has not operated for a long time, no commitment is made regarding the validity and usability of this license.”

The auction description for Jijian Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd. shows that: “According to feedback from Jijian Digital Security Technology Group Co., Ltd., the 50 million yuan capital contribution subscribed has not been actually paid. Because it is not possible to contact Jijian Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd. through the registered residence or business premises, Jijian Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd. was included in the list of business abnormalities on September 24, 2024.”

Від “ліцензійної легенди” до раціонального ціноутворення

If we move the timeline back a few years, insurance intermediary licenses were a popular resource in the capital market.

Around 2017 to 2020, the trading of insurance intermediary equity was once quite active. At that time, the market quoted prices for nationwide insurance brokerage licenses were generally 30 million to 40 million yuan, and failed auctions were rarely seen in the auction market for insurance intermediary equity. Some high-quality assets even managed to sell at a premium. For example, in 2017, Sichuan Jiaotou Chengtai Insurance Brokerage’s 20% shareholders’ interest had a starting price of 2.61M yuan and ultimately sold for 4.31M yuan.

Behind this heat was mainly the “license dividend.” On the one hand, from 2018 to 2023, regulatory authorities paused approvals for insurance intermediary licenses, tightening supply and making licenses highly scarce. On the other hand, at that time, the industry’s fee space was relatively large; “commission-and-fee alignment” had not been fully implemented yet, and some intermediary institutions relied on brokerage commissions and differences in fees to obtain substantial returns.

However, in just a few years, this situation has undergone a fundamental reversal. In an interview with reporters, Zhu Junsheng pointed out that recently the prices of insurance intermediary licenses have fallen from about 30 million yuan to around 10 million yuan, and that equity transactions have frequently resulted in failed auctions, reflecting a systematic reappraisal of the value of licenses by capital.

This change first stems from a clear decline in license scarcity. Zhu Junsheng analyzed that: “As industry concentration improves and channel policies become progressively unified, the barrier effect of licenses themselves weakens. The ‘easy-to-profit’ or ‘channel value’ they carry declines significantly. Licenses gradually return from ‘scarce assets’ to ‘operating tools’.”

Second, Zhu Junsheng said, market profit expectations have also changed. Policies such as “commission-and-fee alignment” compress the level of commissions and the fee space, causing intermediary institutions’ short-term cash flow and expected investment returns to decline, directly affecting the logic of capital pricing. In addition, investment logic has become more rational: the capital market has begun to focus more on intermediary institutions’ long-term operating capability, customer resources, and professional service capabilities rather than simply holding the license itself.

Zhu Junsheng said that from an academic perspective, this change marks the intermediary industry moving from the initial stage of “relying on license dividends” into a mature stage where ability and efficiency are the core.

“Чістка та підвищення якості” прискорює ринкове очищення галузі

The cooling of auctions for insurance intermediary equity is closely related to the continuous industry clearance in recent years.

On February 27, 2026, the National Financial Regulatory Administration disclosed that from 2024 to 2025, nationwide a total of 3 insurance intermediary groups were investigated, and their business permits were revoked or their registrations were canceled; 57 insurance professional intermediary legal entities; and 3,730 insurance professional intermediary branches were cleared out, and 226 insurance兼业 агент代理机构. By the end of 2025, the number of insurance professional intermediary legal entities had fallen to 2,513, declining for 6 consecutive years.

The National Financial Regulatory Administration said that next steps will focus on the main lines of “preventing risks, strengthening regulation, and promoting high-quality development,” to steadily do a good job in insurance intermediary supervision, improve the supervision system for insurance intermediaries, and continuously and deeply advance “清虚提质” for insurance intermediary clearance, optimizing the market structure for insurance intermediaries.

In an interview, Zhu Junsheng further elaborated on the deep impact of regulatory policies on the intermediary profit model. He pointed out that the current changes in insurance intermediary profit models are, in essence, the industry’s transformation from “extensive expansion” to “high-quality development,” driven in core by three aspects: policy, market, and institutional capabilities.

First, from the policy perspective, regulatory policies represented by “commission-and-fee alignment” are reshaping the profit foundation of intermediary institutions. The commission structure, channel fees, and transparency across the entire value chain have improved significantly. The previous model that relied on high commissions and arbitraging fee differences can no longer be sustained. After fees are subject to rigid constraints, intermediary institutions can no longer obtain profits through “fee space” and must rely on real service value and the ability to operate customers. This change essentially pushes the industry to shift from “fee-driven” to “capability-driven.”

Second, from the market perspective, insurance companies’ requirements for multi-channel deployment, product differentiation, and cost control are continuously increasing. Market competition is gradually shifting from price-oriented to structural competition. In this context, profit space for intermediary channels is compressed. Small and medium institutions face clear profit pressure. When revenue cannot cover the continuously rising compliance and operating costs, some institutions choose to exit, which becomes a rational result.

Third, from the institutions’ own capabilities, intermediary institutions lacking customer operation, data accumulation, risk management, and digital capabilities find their business models difficult to sustain. After fee dividends disappear, these institutions lack alternative competitive advantages, and their survival space is significantly narrowed.

Zhu Junsheng believes that “some intermediaries can hardly carry on” is not caused by a single policy shock, but is the result of the combined effect of tightening policies, market rationalization, and capability differentiation. This clearance process will help promote optimization of industry structure, gradually moving the intermediary market toward professionalization and long-term value creation.

Капітал переходить від “купівлі ліцензій” до “купівлі можливостей”

While many small and medium intermediary institutions exit and license value shrinks, some industrial capital is still actively laying out insurance intermediary business, and industry differentiation is accelerating.

In the past two years, automakers have increased their actions in the insurance intermediary track.

In 2025, BMW was approved to establish BMW (China) Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd.; Great Wall Motor entered the insurance intermediary market by acquiring Zhaoyin Insurance Brokerage (Beijing) Co., Ltd., and later renamed it to Lao You Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd.; and NIO, after completing its acquisition of Huiding Insurance Brokerage, renamed it to NIO Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd.

In addition to auto enterprises, large institutions with channel, scenario, or industrial synergy advantages are also accelerating their deployment. In November 2025, the National Financial Supervision and Administration approved and consented to China Post Group carrying out insurance agency business; earlier than that, relevant companies under Chow Tai Fook had already completed the acquisition of all equity of Zhongjie Insurance Brokerage.

From the overall market performance, the business scale of insurance intermediary channels has not shrunk; premium income has still been growing. According to data from 《China Insurance Yearbook 2025》, in 2025, insurance intermediary channels generated premium income of 5.1 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.9% on a comparable basis. Among them, premiums of the professional intermediary channels were 962.3 billion yuan, up 10.4%; insurance兼业代理机构 generated premium income of 1,742.49 billion yuan, up 4.5%.

However, premium income growth cannot hide structural differentiation. Zhu Junsheng pointed out that intermediary institutions that still have equity-attractive value typically have the following characteristics: first, they have stable and sustainable customer resources (such as corporate clients or high-net-worth clients); second, they have professional service capabilities (such as risk management or industry solutions); third, they have certain digital capabilities or platform attributes; fourth, they form differentiated advantages in niche fields.

Zhu Junsheng emphasized that, overall, capital entrants into the insurance intermediary industry are shifting from “buying licenses” to “buying capabilities.”

Галузь рухається до професіоналізації, концентрації та ціннісної орієнтації

Against the background of profit models being reshaped and operating costs rising, insurance intermediary institutions must find new growth drivers. Zhu Junsheng believes that its core direction is to shift from “scale expansion” to “value creation.”

On the one hand, intermediaries need to move from simply selling products to providing risk management and integrated services. For example, in high-growth C-end markets such as retirement and health, by providing professional consultation, risk assessment, and long-term services, they can achieve deep customer operation and higher renewal rates.

On the other hand, they should leverage digital tools to improve operational efficiency, reduce customer acquisition and service costs, thereby enhancing profit ability across cycles.

At the same time, by integrating product resources from multiple insurance companies to provide customers with diversified and personalized solutions, it also helps to form professional barriers.

In addition, strengthening cooperative collaboration with insurance companies—shifting from traditional “channel relationship” to a “value co-creation relationship”—will also become an important direction.

In terms of industry landscape, Zhu Junsheng expects that as institutional clearance proceeds and license values become rationalized, the concentration of the insurance intermediary industry is likely to continue to increase; the exit of micro and small institutions will accelerate; and the advantages of leading and professional institutions will be further strengthened. In the long term, the industry will gradually form a tiered structure centered on professional capability, customer operation capability, and digital capability. Service quality will show differentiation, and the market share and customer stickiness of high-level institutions will increase significantly.

Going one step further, Zhu Junsheng pointed out that the functional positioning of the intermediary industry is also changing: from the traditional policy-selling channel, it will gradually evolve into a “center for customer operation and value creation.” In the future, it is expected to become an important node connecting insurance companies, health management, retirement services, and technology platforms.

Zhu Junsheng believes that the current adjustment of the insurance intermediary industry is not a simple cyclical fluctuation, but a deep reshaping jointly driven by regulation, the market, and capability structures. In the short term, it is institutional clearance and profit pressure; in the medium to long term, it is the process of the industry evolving toward professionalization, concentration, and value realization. In this process, intermediary institutions that can truly get through the cycle will no longer rely on fee dividends; instead, they will rely on customers, capabilities, and services to build sustainable long-term value.

(Редактор: Цянь Сяоруі)

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