ICBC-AXA Life Insurance Company Limited has received multiple penalty notices for its subsidiaries.

On August 18, the Shandong Financial Regulatory Administration's official website showed that ICBC-AXA Life Insurance Shandong Branch was fined 240,000 yuan for failing to use insurance clauses that were properly filed as required. One responsible person received a warning and was fined 40,000 yuan. Additionally, for deceiving policyholders, ICBC-AXA Life Insurance Zibo Central Sub-branch's Zhangdian Marketing Service Department and one responsible person were fined 130,000 yuan and received a warning plus 10,000 yuan fine respectively.

On August 5, the Sichuan Financial Regulatory Administration's official website showed that ICBC-AXA Life Insurance Sichuan Branch was fined 450,000 yuan for violations including failure to use properly filed insurance rates as required, inaccurate financial data, and using insurance business operations to seek improper benefits for other institutions. Meanwhile, four responsible persons received warnings and fines ranging from 10,000 to 40,000 yuan.

From a performance perspective, ICBC-AXA Life Insurance achieved insurance business revenue of 33.471 billion yuan in the first half of this year, representing a year-on-year increase of 8.84%. This ranked third among bank-affiliated insurers, higher than ABC Life Insurance (32.611 billion yuan), but behind China Post Life Insurance (118.072 billion yuan) and CCB Life Insurance (33.803 billion yuan).

In Q1 2025, ICBC-AXA Life Insurance's insurance business revenue was 20.913 billion yuan, slightly lower than ABC Life Insurance (22.312 billion yuan), ranking fourth among bank-affiliated insurers.

Since switching to new accounting standards in 2024, ICBC-AXA Life Insurance's net profit has shown significant volatility. Its net profit for the first half of this year was 1.204 billion yuan, up approximately 52% year-on-year. The investment yield and comprehensive investment yield for the first half were 1.81% and 3.14% respectively.

As of the end of H1 2025, ICBC-AXA Life Insurance's core and comprehensive solvency adequacy ratios were 195% and 261% respectively, up 11 and 14 percentage points from the previous quarter.

ICBC-AXA Life Insurance attributed the solvency improvement mainly to Q2 equity market gains and declining spot interest rates boosting comprehensive investment returns, driving actual capital growth of approximately 3.5 billion yuan.

This year, numerous insurers have been actively issuing debt to "replenish capital." In March, ICBC-AXA Life Insurance issued 7 billion yuan in perpetual capital bonds "ICBC-AXA Perpetual Bond 01" to supplement Tier 2 core capital. Both United Credit Rating and China Chengxin International Credit Rating gave AAA ratings for both the issuer and bond credit levels.

**Bank-Affiliated Insurers Need "Two-Pronged Approach"**

ICBC-AXA Life Insurance is one of the bank-affiliated insurers, with ICBC as the largest shareholder holding 60%. The second-largest shareholder is AXA China, a subsidiary of global major insurance group AXA Group, holding 27.5%. The third and fourth-largest shareholders are Minmetals Capital Holdings and China Minmetals Group, holding 10.0% and 2.5% respectively.

According to United Credit Rating's 2025 tracking rating report data for ICBC-AXA Life Insurance, in terms of channels, benefiting from ICBC's extensive branch network and rich customer resources, ICBC-AXA Life Insurance's bancassurance channel sales proportion has remained above 80% since 2022.

Besides ICBC-AXA Life Insurance, China Post Life Insurance's bancassurance channel premium income proportion reached over 96% from 2022-2024, while CCB Life Insurance's bancassurance channel premium income proportion reached over 85% from 2022 to Q1 2025.

Industry insiders point out that against the backdrop of declining predetermined interest rates and strict implementation of bancassurance "quote-and-execute alignment," bank-affiliated insurers heavily dependent on bancassurance channels may face certain impacts on premium income and product structure.

Financial analyst Yu Fenghui noted that first, as predetermined interest rates decline, the appeal of products sold through bancassurance channels weakens due to reduced yield attractiveness, potentially leading to slower premium growth or customer attrition. Second, strict enforcement of "quote-and-execute alignment" requires insurance companies to determine product pricing and dividend levels based on actual investment returns, increasing product transparency while adding management complexity for sales channels. Therefore, future bank-affiliated insurers need to shift from sole reliance on bancassurance channels to diversified channel development, such as strengthening online channel construction and enhancing direct marketing capabilities, while focusing on product innovation and service quality improvement to enhance market competitiveness.

Tian Lihui, Dean of Nankai University's Financial Development Research Institute, stated that bank-affiliated insurers' over-reliance on bancassurance channels easily leads to pain points including high commission costs, product homogenization, and weak customer loyalty. Under "quote-and-execute alignment" policies, commission compression directly erodes profits, and bancassurance channels mainly focus on short-term savings products that struggle to match long-term value growth needs. Additionally, loose bancassurance cooperation leads to fragmented customer data, making precise marketing difficult.

Regarding future transformation directions for bank-affiliated insurers, Tian believes a "two-pronged approach" is needed. On one hand, deepening bancassurance synergy by locking in top-tier bank resources through strategic alliances and promoting product customization (such as exclusive protection for high-net-worth customers). On the other hand, accelerating expansion into individual and brokerage channels with professional teams to develop protection-oriented businesses. Simultaneously, utilizing big data to optimize customer profiling and improving sales efficiency through digital tools to gradually achieve transformation from "channel-driven" to "customer-driven" models.

**Traditional Life Insurance Dominance with Active Participating Insurance Development**

In terms of insurance product structure, ICBC-AXA Life Insurance currently maintains increasing whole life insurance as its core business. From 2023-2024, ICBC-AXA Life Insurance's traditional life insurance premium income proportion consistently reached over 70%, representing a relatively high scale proportion.

According to United Credit Rating report data, in Q1 2025, ICBC-AXA Life Insurance achieved original insurance premium income of 20.913 billion yuan, with traditional life insurance, participating insurance, health insurance, accident insurance, and investment-linked insurance generating revenues of 15.653 billion yuan, 3.609 billion yuan, 1.610 billion yuan, 40 million yuan, and 1 million yuan respectively. Traditional life insurance and participating insurance accounted for 74.8% and 17.3% respectively.

ICBC-AXA Life Insurance is currently actively developing participating insurance business by reducing high capital-consuming single-premium participating insurance business scale and increasing development and promotion of long-term, regular-premium participating insurance products, promoting transformation from single-premium to regular-premium products.

Tian Lihui noted that ICBC-AXA Life Insurance's transformation of reducing single-premium participating insurance and developing regular-premium products may face challenges of slower premium growth and increased capital occupation in the short term, but long-term benefits include improved customer retention and new business value rates. Regular-premium products require long-term premium payments, creating stable cash flows that align with insurers' asset-side duration management needs during interest rate decline cycles.

Tian further stated that focusing on regular-premium participating insurance can strengthen the "prudent insurer" positioning and create synergy with ICBC's inclusive finance ecosystem. However, attention must be paid to the impact of further predetermined interest rate cuts on product attractiveness and solvency adequacy ratio constraint risks. Product structure transformation serves as the core tool for insurers to navigate cycles.

Yu Fenghui believes that insurance product structure transformation helps optimize the company's liability structure, improve capital utilization efficiency and profitability. Additionally, by providing more flexible and diverse product choices, it can better meet different customer group needs and promote sustainable business development. Furthermore, as participating insurance proportions gradually increase, it will help diversify company operational risks and enhance resilience against market volatility.

**Expected New President Appointment**

Following the departure of former President and Executive Director Wu Qian in January this year, ICBC-AXA Life Insurance is expected to welcome a new president.

In June this year, media reported that Bao Lingjie, then Deputy Governor of ICBC Zhejiang Branch, was proposed to serve as Deputy Party Secretary and President of ICBC-AXA Life Insurance. However, regulatory approval has not yet been received.

On July 18 this year, ICBC-AXA Life Insurance held its 2025 mid-year work conference. According to articles published on its official WeChat account, Deputy Party Secretary Bao Lingjie delivered the company's operational analysis report at the meeting.

ICBC-AXA Life Insurance's current senior management team includes multiple executives from the ICBC system, including the Chairman.

In May 2024, Wang Dufu was appointed Chairman of ICBC-AXA Life Insurance, with regulatory approval for his qualification received in the same month. Simultaneously, ICBC-AXA Life Insurance welcomed new CFO Zhang Tao.

Wang Dufu joined ICBC in 1993 and served in various positions including Deputy Governor of ICBC Nanjing Branch and Jiangsu Branch, General Manager of Headquarters Bank Card Business and President & Party Secretary of Peony Card Center, and Deputy Party Secretary & Deputy Governor of Beijing Branch (headquarters general manager level). He was appointed Party Secretary of ICBC-AXA Life Insurance in January 2024 and has served as Chairman of ICBC-AXA Asset Management Co., Ltd. since June 2024.

Zhang Tao joined ICBC in 2003 and served in various positions including Deputy Governor of ICBC Hebei Handan Yongnian Sub-branch, Governor of Gaikai Sub-branch, and Deputy Governor & Party Committee Member of Handan Branch.

Additionally, former President and Executive Director Wu Qian was also an ICBC veteran who has been transferred to serve as Party Secretary of ICBC Wealth Management.

She joined ICBC in 1995 and served in various positions including Deputy Director of System Finance Department in Headquarters Planning & Finance Department, Director of Overseas & Direct Institution Finance Department, Director of Overseas & Direct Institution Finance Department in Finance & Accounting Department, Director of Headquarters Financial Management Center, and Deputy General Manager of Finance & Accounting Department, possessing extensive financial management experience. She joined ICBC-AXA Life Insurance in 2015, serving as CFO, Finance Officer, Deputy Party Secretary, and General Manager (President).