The year 2025 marks a pivotal transition between the conclusion of China's 14th Five-Year Plan and the formulation of the 15th Five-Year Plan. For the Chinese insurance industry, it represents a critical juncture of continuity and transformation, with increasingly robust strides toward high-quality development. Notably, the life insurance sector has undergone profound structural reforms centered on product optimization, a trend vividly exemplified by mid-generation insurers like SUNSHINE INS (06963). As SUNSHINE INS celebrates its third anniversary as a listed company, reviewing its life insurance business transformation offers valuable insights into industry trends.
In recent years, the reduction in guaranteed interest rates for life insurance products has become an unavoidable industry challenge. By 2025, these rates have declined for three consecutive years, reaching their lowest levels in two decades—ordinary products dropped from 3.5% to 2.0%, while participating products fell from 3.0% to 1.75%. This adjustment reflects regulatory efforts to mitigate long-term low-interest-rate risks and prevent spread loss vulnerabilities. Under this low-rate pressure, the industry proactively initiated product restructuring.
Market observations in 2025 reveal that floating-yield products like participating and universal insurance have replaced traditional fixed-rate offerings as the focal point for life insurers. Listed insurers' interim and Q3 reports highlight this shift. For instance, China Life saw floating-yield products account for over 45 percentage points more in first-year regular premium income YoY. Ping An Life reported participating insurance contributing 40% of new business value (NBV) in H1, with further growth expected in H2. CPIC Life’s participating products represented 42.5% of new recurring premiums in the first half.
As an active industry reformer, SUNSHINE INS’s subsidiary Sunshine Life has demonstrated significant progress. On its third listing anniversary, the company’s "New Sunshine" strategy has effectively embedded value-driven growth in its life insurance segment. H1 2025 data shows floating-yield and protection-type products exceeding 50% of Sunshine Life’s individual insurance portfolio, a 26-percentage-point YoY increase, underscoring structural improvements.
This product evolution creates a "win-win" dynamic. For customers, participating products enhance engagement through potential profit-sharing, extending policy retention. For insurers, it reduces liability costs and spread loss risks, paving the way for refined management and sustainable value creation—a principle SUNSHINE INS has consistently upheld since its IPO.
Huachuang Securities projects that deepening participation product adoption, expanded bancassurance networks, and refined "compliance-integrated" policies will drive listed insurers’ aggregate NBV growth above 15% in 2026.
Macroscopically, the life insurance industry’s shift from scale pursuit to value cultivation signals China’s maturation into a sophisticated market, heralding a healthier, more sustainable growth cycle. As the 15th Five-Year Plan commences in 2026, transformative and high-quality development will undoubtedly take center stage.