Under expectations of declining predetermined interest rates for life insurance products, August marked a crucial transition month for insurance products, representing a critical juncture for major insurers to achieve annual performance targets. Particularly as individual agent channels continue to navigate transformation challenges, bancassurance channels have become vital support for insurers reaching their performance goals.

Industry data reveals that in August, bancassurance channel regular premium income maintained robust growth momentum: despite a year-over-year growth rate of 31% declining from July's 51%, the sector still achieved double-digit growth, pushing premium scale to 75.5 billion yuan with month-over-month growth approaching 100%.

Looking at the first eight months of bancassurance regular premium growth rates, the traditional "Big Seven" life insurers and non-bank foreign insurers demonstrated strong momentum, with year-over-year growth rates of 56% and 43% respectively. In contrast, bank-affiliated insurers faced challenges from intensified bancassurance network competition and value-oriented transformation pressures, recording negative 4% year-over-year growth. Other domestic insurers also experienced negative 3% growth, widening the performance gap.

From individual company bancassurance channel performance, who is making significant progress, who is consolidating advantages, and who faces transformation challenges with slowing momentum?

**Major Reshuffling Among Top 10 Insurers**

The intensifying competition in bancassurance channels is clearly reflected in the ranking changes among the top 10 insurers by regular premium income.

Data shows that for the first eight months of this year, the top three positions in bancassurance regular premium scale were held by PING AN Life, China Post Life, and China Life, with premium incomes of 30.05 billion yuan, 27.65 billion yuan, and 24.8 billion yuan respectively.

Particularly noteworthy is PING AN Life's strong growth trajectory compared to the top three rankings from the first six and seven months. The company demonstrated consistent upward momentum, first surpassing China Life to claim the "runner-up" position in the first seven months, then overtaking China Post Life to secure the latest "top spot."

PING AN Life's successive advances are closely related to maintaining high regular premium growth rates. Data indicates that for the first eight months, the company's bancassurance regular premium year-over-year growth reached 176%, contrasting with China Life's 45% growth rate and China Post Life's negative 23% growth during the same period.

Beyond this, deeper reasons include PING AN Life's strategic expansion in bancassurance channels following the implementation of "regulatory filing consistency" and removal of "one-to-three" restrictions. Interim results show that in the first half of this year, PING AN's life and health insurance bancassurance channel new business value reached 5.972 billion yuan, up 168.6% year-over-year.

PING AN's management revealed that the company's external operational network points have expanded to 17,000 from 12,000 at the beginning of the year. Additionally, Ping An Bank's "exclusive agency model" strengthens competitive advantages through specialized products and high-productivity teams. Management emphasized strong confidence in bancassurance channels, planning to further expand networks, increase teams, optimize products, and improve network productivity, expecting bancassurance channels to maintain high growth in 2025.

Looking at the fourth through tenth positions in the first eight months of bancassurance regular premiums, these companies include: PICC Life, Dajia Life, Ruizhong Life, New China Life, CPIC Life, CITIC-Prudential Life, and Sunshine Life, with regular premium incomes all exceeding 11 billion yuan. PICC Life and Dajia Life exceeded 20 billion yuan, reaching 23.41 billion yuan and 22.53 billion yuan respectively.

Comparing ranking changes over the past three months reveals significant movement in positions four through ten, representing a major "reshuffle."

Specifically, core changes concentrated in two areas: first, among leading companies, PICC Life and Dajia Life swapped positions, with PICC Life rising to fourth and Dajia Life dropping to fifth; second, the eighth through tenth positions in the first six months (CITIC-Prudential Life, Taikang Life, CPIC Life) shifted to CPIC Life, CITIC-Prudential Life, and Sunshine Life in the first eight months, with Taikang Life dropping out of the top ten and Sunshine Life successfully entering.

**"Big Seven" High Growth vs Bank-Affiliated "Mixed Results"**

From the first eight months of bancassurance regular premium growth performance, another notable characteristic is that all "Big Seven" life insurers achieved positive year-over-year growth, most with substantial increases, while previously advantaged bank-affiliated insurers showed divergent performance.

Data shows that beyond PING AN Life's 176% bancassurance regular premium growth in the first eight months, among the "Big Seven," PICC Life, CPIC Life, and China Life all exceeded 40% year-over-year growth, reaching 64%, 49%, and 45% respectively.

Additionally, New China Life, Taikang Life, and CITIC-Prudential Life achieved year-over-year growth of 32%, 25%, and 9% respectively. Overall, the "Big Seven" life insurers collectively achieved 133.7 billion yuan in bancassurance regular premiums for the first eight months, up 56% year-over-year.

Bank-affiliated insurers' bancassurance regular premium growth showed "mixed results." Data indicates Everbright Sun Life led with 127% year-over-year growth, followed by CITIC-Prudential Life and CMB Life with 72% and 45% growth respectively. China Construction Bank Life, CCB Life, and ICBC-AXA Life also achieved positive year-over-year growth.

However, Bank of Communications Life, China Post Life, Sino-Dutch Life, and ABC Life showed negative year-over-year growth of -32%, -23%, -12%, and -3% respectively.

August single-month bancassurance regular premium month-over-month growth also demonstrated bank-affiliated insurers underperforming the "Big Seven." Among the "Big Seven," six companies exceeded 100% month-over-month growth: CPIC Life, New China Life, Taikang Life, PING AN Life, CITIC-Prudential Life, and China Life, with growth rates of 212%, 181%, 182%, 121%, 105%, and 101% respectively.

Among ten bank-affiliated insurers' August single-month bancassurance regular premium month-over-month growth, only CITIC-Prudential Life, CMB Life, CCB Life, ICBC-AXA, and Bank of Communications Life exceeded 100% month-over-month growth. During the August "sprint month," China Post Life's month-over-month growth was 13%.

Market participants believe that during this bancassurance channel growth phase, the "Big Seven" life insurers' speed advantage over bank-affiliated insurers relates to lower operational costs and stronger resource investment capabilities, particularly after the removal of "1+3" network restrictions enabled accelerated network expansion. Conversely, bank-affiliated insurers' dependence on shareholder bank network resources became a double-edged sword, reducing market competition flexibility.

Looking at leading insurers' bancassurance network expansion, beyond PING AN Life's resource expansion, CPIC's interim results show that CPIC Life's bancassurance channel achieved performance targets at 13,000 network points in the first half, up 28.9% year-over-year, with monthly average achieving network points growing 70.2% year-over-year and state-owned bank growth reaching 164.9%.

**Non-Bank Foreign Insurers Gain Momentum, Brand Advantages Emerge**

In this year's bancassurance market, another major force emerged: non-bank foreign insurers represented by Generali China, Manulife-Sinochem, and MetLife. Data shows that for the first eight months, non-bank foreign insurers collectively achieved 15 billion yuan in bancassurance channel regular premiums, up 43% year-over-year, second only to the "Big Seven's" 56% growth.

Looking at individual company performance, MetLife led with the highest first eight months bancassurance regular premium year-over-year growth, surging 107% to 2.03 billion yuan from the previous year's 980 million yuan. Manulife-Sinochem followed with 77% growth to 3.73 billion yuan from the previous year's 2.11 billion yuan. Generali China achieved 2.3 billion yuan in first eight months bancassurance regular premiums, up 25%.

For August single-month month-over-month growth, all three non-bank foreign insurers exceeded 100% growth. Manulife-Sinochem ranked second in month-over-month growth, with August bancassurance regular premium income surging 259% to 1.22 billion yuan from July's 340 million yuan. MetLife and Generali China achieved 107% and 100% month-over-month growth respectively.

Industry sources indicate that these three insurers selling bancassurance products through China Merchants Bank achieved hundreds of billions in single premium payments this year, totaling 36.7 billion yuan.

Analyzing traditionally stable non-bank foreign insurers' strong bancassurance channel expansion, one factor may relate to bancassurance "regulatory filing consistency" implementation and declining predetermined interest rates reducing insurers' expense and interest rate risk exposure, helping foreign and joint venture insurers expand bancassurance operations and providing important business expansion opportunities.

Additionally, under the beneficial factor of removing bancassurance "1+3" network restrictions, some foreign and joint venture insurers with "small but beautiful" and stable operational characteristics increasingly demonstrate brand advantages in bank networks, providing more cooperation opportunities and expanding market coverage.

Overall, bancassurance channel market dynamics continue evolving, but it's foreseeable that with the "new bancassurance" era's arrival, whoever can identify precise positioning, fully activate resource endowments and operational advantages, and build deep synergy with banks will seize core opportunities in the industry's new development wave and achieve greater growth potential.