China Life Insurance disclosed its 2025 annual report on the evening of March 25. The data reveals that this leading life insurer achieved operating revenue of 615.678 billion yuan in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 16.5%. Net profit reached 154.078 billion yuan, surging 44.1% compared to the previous year. The company's total premium income surpassed 700 billion yuan for the first time, reaching 729.887 billion yuan, which represents an 8.7% growth.
Regarding key investment details, China Life disclosed that its publicly traded equity investment scale exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan by the end of 2025, an increase of over 450 billion yuan from the start of the year. Furthermore, within the report, the company officially announced the scale of the highly anticipated Honghu Fund for the first time.
Several metrics position China Life at the forefront of the global life insurance industry. As of December 31, 2025, the company's total assets and investment assets stood at 7.59 trillion yuan and 7.42 trillion yuan, respectively. Shareholders' equity attributable to parent company shareholders reached 595.205 billion yuan, up 16.8% year-on-year. The comprehensive solvency adequacy ratio was 174.01%, and the core solvency adequacy ratio was 128.77%, both maintained at sufficient levels. The company held 327 million valid long-term insurance policies. Additionally, the scale of life and health insurance reserves at China Life ranked highest among global life insurers by the end of 2025.
The 2025 annual report shows that China Life realized total investment income of 387.694 billion yuan, an increase of 79.443 billion yuan from 2024. The total investment return rate was 6.09%, rising 59 basis points year-on-year. The average total investment return rate for this insurance giant from 2023 to 2025 was 4.76%.
China Life included a significant detail in its annual report: "Vigorously promoting the entry of medium- and long-term funds into the market, we decisively increased equity investment by seizing market opportunities, resulting in a publicly traded equity investment scale exceeding 1.2 trillion yuan, an increase of over 450 billion yuan from the beginning of the year. We continued to effectively utilize the innovative model of private securities investment funds, with cumulative fundraising scale exceeding 100 billion yuan, creating a demonstrative effect in supporting capital market development." The statement concerning "cumulative fundraising scale exceeding 100 billion yuan" signifies China Life's first public acknowledgment that the total assets under management for Guofeng Xinghua, the secondary private fund established jointly with New China Life Insurance and managed under the Honghu Fund banner, officially surpassed the 100-billion-yuan mark by the end of 2025. This effectively serves as an official announcement that Honghu Fund has joined the ranks of China's 100-billion-yuan stock private fund managers.
Detailing its investment operations over the past year, China Life reported investment assets of 7.42 trillion yuan, a 12.3% increase from the end of 2024. Allocations to bonds, term deposits, and credit-type financial products remained broadly stable. Furthermore, the allocation ratio to stocks and funds (excluding money market funds) increased from 12.18% at the end of 2024 to 16.89%. The company explained this was "primarily due to decisively increasing equity investment by seizing market opportunities, leading to a significant rise in the scale of equity investments."
Regarding specific asset allocation details, the report stated: "In 2025, bond market interest rates fluctuated slightly at low levels, with the ultra-long-end term spread widening. The stock market overall performed strongly, albeit with significant structural divergence. Adhering to the principles of asset-liability linkage management and long-term, value, and stable investing, the company continuously enhanced its professional investment capabilities, dynamically optimized major asset allocations, steadily improved the income stability of the investment portfolio, and boosted long-term return potential. On the fixed income side, we flexibly adjusted the pace of allocation and variety strategies, continuously solidifying the base allocation. In equity investment, we vigorously promoted medium- and long-term fund entry into the market, decisively increased equity investment by seizing opportunities, actively deployed in areas related to new quality productive forces, and steadily conducted allocations in high-dividend stocks. For alternative investments, we focused on high-quality entities and core assets, innovated investment models, and strengthened forward-looking布局 (layout). The company's asset allocation remained稳健 (stable), with overall sound asset quality."
China Life's total premium income broke through the 700 billion yuan mark for the first time in 2025, reaching 729.887 billion yuan, an 8.7% increase. Within this, first-year premiums with a payment period of ten years or more amounted to 52.197 billion yuan, accounting for 44.92% of all first-year recurring premiums. For the individual agent channel, first-year recurring premiums with a term of ten years or more constituted over 58% of the channel's total first-year recurring premiums. As of December 31, 2025, the company's total sales force stood at 638,000 individuals, maintaining the leading scale in the industry, with continuous improvements in the professionalism, specialization, and rejuvenation of the sales team. The proportions of new single premiums for life insurance, annuity insurance, and health insurance were 31.75%, 32.11%, and 31.23%, respectively. The company vigorously promoted business structure transformation, with floating income-type business achieving robust growth, accounting for nearly 50% of first-year recurring premiums, indicating smooth progress in the business transformation.
In 2025, the total premium income for China Life's individual agent channel was 551.79 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.3%. The insurer stated that it strongly promoted the development of floating income products over the past year. Participating insurance business experienced rapid growth in 2025, with its share of first-year recurring premiums in the individual agent channel jumping to nearly 60%, becoming a crucial support for new single premiums. Leading products gradually strengthened the orientation towards medium- to long-term sales, with payment and insurance periods becoming more diverse. The mix of insurance types and business structure for first-year recurring premiums in the individual agent channel became more diversified and balanced. The one-year new business value for the individual agent channel reached 39.299 billion yuan, an increase of 25.5% year-on-year. As of the end of 2025, the individual agent sales force numbered 587,000 people, with the scale leading the industry. This included a marketing team of 371,000 people and a service and development team of 216,000 people.
The bancassurance channel was a key focus area. In 2025, all core indicators for China Life's bancassurance channel showed comprehensive improvement. Total premiums reached 110.874 billion yuan, breaking the 100-billion-yuan barrier, with a year-on-year growth of 45.5%. New single premiums amounted to 58.506 billion yuan, surging 95.7% year-on-year. The proportion of new single premiums from participating insurance in the bancassurance channel increased by approximately 15 percentage points compared to the previous year.
Why is the bancassurance channel important for life insurers? Simply put, banks possess numerous branches, a vast customer base, and high trustworthiness. By leveraging bank channels, life insurers can quickly reach a massive number of depositors and make insurance products accessible to more people. Compared to building their own sales teams, the bancassurance channel offers lower costs and faster scaling, making it a crucial battleground for expanding premium scale and acquiring new customers. As of the latest data, China Life cooperates with over one hundred banks. The number of bank outlets generating new policies reached 77,000, a 25.9% increase year-on-year, with the number of star-rated outlets growing by 49.1%. The bancassurance channel's account managers totaled 20,000, with average productivity per person increasing by 53.7% year-on-year.