On 10 January, the Insurance Association of China (IAC) convened a meeting of the Life Insurance Liability Reserve Assessment Rate Expert Advisory Committee to analyze the current macroeconomic environment, capital markets, and interest rate trends. Industry experts discussed assumed interest rates for life insurance products, concluding that the research value for the current assumed interest rate of standard life insurance products is 2.34%.
On 10 January, China Life announced that its cumulative original premium income for 2024 reached approximately CNY671.7bn ($94.04bn), representing a 4.7% year-on-year increase.
As 2025 begins, regulatory announcements continue to highlight the closure of insurance branches, reflecting the ongoing trend of streamlining operations across the industry.
For the life insurance agency channel, 2024 was a challenging year marked by transformation and survival efforts. Faced with macroeconomic adjustments, pressure from "unified commission reporting," and declining product interest rates, many agencies had no choice but to adapt to avoid stagnation and decline. Without changes, they risked shrinking market share, high attrition rates, and structural instability.
These are the highlights for all events and updates across the industry this week.
These are the updates on insurance regulation across China this week.
On 10 January, the China Financial Regulatory Administration (CFRA) reported that after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Dingri County in Shigatse, Tibet, the CFRA quickly activated an emergency response.
On 8 January, the National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA) approved Taiping Reinsurance (China) and Bank of China Insurance to set up reinsurance operation centres in Shanghai's Pudong New Area. These centres are authorized to handle reinsurance business as permitted by regulatory authorities and within their company mandates.
South Korean (re)insurers are looking at losses estimated to be around KRW90bn ($61.8m) from the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles. DB Insurance and Korean Re are likely to bear the largest impact, of these losses.
Indonesia will introduce free medical screenings next month as part of the country's effort to detect various diseases early and avoid preventable deaths according to the government.