"Struggling amidst turbulence" is the most fitting description for Peking University Founder Life Insurance. Since its establishment, the company has undergone two name changes and three changes in ownership; operationally, it is deeply mired in the quagmire of "increasing revenue without increasing profits," accumulating losses exceeding four billion yuan over the past five years, with its solvency approaching the regulatory red line.
Facing this predicament, the Ping An Group entered the scene as a "firefighting captain," with more than ten executives from the Ping An system successively taking over core positions. Currently, the appointment of Hao Junhui as the financial officer has pressed the accelerator for this "blood transfusion."
The company welcomes another executive from the Ping An system. Recently, the official website of Peking University Founder Life Insurance showed that Hao Junhui has officially assumed the role of the company's financial officer. In fact, as early as last December, the Shanghai Regulatory Bureau had already approved his qualification for the financial officer position.
Public information reveals that Hao Junhui was born in December 1977 and holds an undergraduate degree from Wuhan University. His career has been long-rooted in the Ping An system, having previously served as Manager of the Accounting Reporting Office in the Finance Department of Ping An Life Insurance headquarters, IFRS Project Leader in the headquarters Finance Department, Senior Manager of the IFRS17 Project in the headquarters Financial Administration Department, Senior Manager of the Financial Management Team in the headquarters Finance Enterprise Center, and Senior Manager in the headquarters Finance Department. He currently holds the position of General Manager of the Financial Management Department at Peking University Founder Life Insurance.
It is evident that Hao Junhui is a seasoned veteran with Ping An DNA and is the fifth executive from the Ping An system to be parachuted into the core management layer. So far, among the 14-person senior management team of Peking University Founder Life Insurance, those with a Ping An employment background have reached 10 seats, comprehensively controlling key areas such as strategy, finance, investment, and auditing.
The connection with Ping An began in 2021. That year, the judicial restructuring of the Founder Group was finalized. As a strategic investor, China Ping An, through Ping An Life Insurance, invested 48.2 billion yuan to acquire a 66.51% stake in the new Founder Group, indirectly gaining control of 51% of the shares of Peking University Founder Life Insurance and becoming the actual controller. At that time, the market widely anticipated that Ping An would use "its own people" to drive integration.
In August 2024, Han Guang was approved to serve as the General Manager of Peking University Founder Life Insurance, seen as a "key lever" for the implementation of Ping An's strategy. It is well known within the industry that Han Guang is a seasoned Ping An veteran with 28 years of work experience, having previously served as Deputy General Manager of Ping An Life Insurance and General Manager of a branch company, deeply familiar with the management logic and business strategies of the Ping An system.
Subsequently, executives from the Ping An system accelerated their entry. Deputy General Manager Wang Hailong, Assistant General Manager and Chief Investment Officer Zhong Shikai, and Financial Officer Hao Junhui successively assumed their duties, forming a joint force with existing Ping An-system executives such as Wei Chunping and Hu Jie, who had been appointed earlier.
It is worth noting that the new logo of Peking University Founder Life Insurance adopts a "vibrant orange," creating a clear echo with "Ping An orange," metaphorically suggesting that the company is being infused with Ping An's genes.
Ping An's strong entry comes against the backdrop of the company's tumultuous development history. Peking University Founder Life Insurance was established in 2002, originally named "Haier New York Life Insurance," jointly founded by Qingdao Haier Investment Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Haier Investment") and New York Life Insurance Company (hereinafter referred to as "New York Life"), with Chinese and foreign shareholders each holding a 50% stake.
Subsequently, it underwent a series of changes. In 2010, New York Life decisively "parted ways" with Haier Investment, transferring its 50% stake to Haier and Japanese insurer Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company (hereinafter referred to as "Meiji Yasuda") respectively. After this change, Haier Investment's shareholding ratio increased to 75%, while Meiji Yasuda held 25%. At the end of the same year, the company was renamed "Haier Life Insurance." Immediately after, in March 2011, Haier Life Insurance completed a capital increase, with Haier Investment and Meiji Yasuda's shareholding ratios rising to 70.76% and 29.24% respectively.
In 2012, the company underwent a major restructuring, introducing Peking University Founder Group as a major shareholder, which acquired a 51% stake at once. Haier's shareholding ratio plummeted to 19.76%, while Meiji Yasuda's shareholding ratio remained unchanged. Simultaneously, the company was officially renamed "Peking University Founder Life Insurance."
Currently, the company's shareholders include New Founder Holding Development Co., Ltd., Meiji Yasuda, and Haier Group (Qingdao) Jinying Holding Co., Ltd., holding 51%, 29.24%, and 19.76% of the shares respectively.
The latest solvency report shows that as of the first three quarters of 2025, the company achieved insurance business revenue of 4.022 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of approximately 3.13%; its net profit loss was 435 million yuan, continuing the loss-making trend, but narrowing significantly by 49.36% compared to the same period last year.
Looking over a longer time horizon, from 2020 to 2024, Peking University Founder Life Insurance achieved insurance business revenues of 3.579 billion yuan, 4.342 billion yuan, 4.191 billion yuan, 4.859 billion yuan, and 4.95 billion yuan respectively. The compound annual growth rate over the five years was approximately 5.5%, showing an overall steady upward trend. Among these, growth in 2021 and 2023 was particularly significant, while 2022 saw a slight decline due to market adjustments; revenue in the first three quarters of 2025 was under pressure, marking the first year-on-year decrease.
In stark contrast to the relative stability on the revenue side is the continuous "bloodletting" on the profit side. From 2020 to 2024, the company's net profits were 9 million yuan, -1.008 billion yuan, 156 million yuan, -809 million yuan, and -1.429 billion yuan respectively. The cumulative loss over the five years has exceeded 3.5 billion yuan; if the loss for the first three quarters of 2025 is included, the total loss will exceed 4 billion yuan.
The root cause of the losses is the叠加 of multiple pressures. Firstly, the company has long been overly reliant on the bancassurance channel, which involves high fees and commission expenses but results in low customer loyalty. Taking 2024 as an example, the company's fees and commission expenses increased by 8% year-on-year, while the industry average was declining. Furthermore, short-term wealth management products with high cash value account for as much as 38% of the portfolio. While these products can rapidly scale up the business, they create immense surrender pressure later, easily forming a vicious cycle of "the larger the scale, the deeper the losses."
Secondly, a high surrender rate continues to erode cash flow and profits. In 2023, the company's comprehensive surrender rate was 2.4%, which further rose to 3.04% in 2024. The annual surrender rate for a certain product even exceeded 100%. A high surrender rate means continuous cash outflow, severely eroding profits.
Furthermore, weak performance on the investment side has become a significant driver of losses. Historically, the company made substantial investments in non-standard debt assets. Affected by the debt crisis of the original shareholder, Founder Group, related investments incurred significant impairment losses. For example, a 450 million yuan trust investment in 2022 led to an impairment loss of 320 million yuan, directly causing a sharp decline in solvency for that period; in early 2025, the company announced that a 300 million yuan capital supplement bond invested in 2017 experienced delayed interest payments, leading to an additional impairment loss of 96.75 million yuan, further consuming profits.
In a low-interest-rate environment, returns on fixed-income assets are under pressure, while equity investments have also been lackluster. In 2023, the company's asset impairment losses reached 543 million yuan. Although the capital market recovered in 2024, with the industry's average comprehensive investment return rate reaching 8.8%, the company's cumulative investment return rate for the first four quarters was only 3.18%, far below the industry average, failing to benefit from the market upswing.
Additionally, the company's solvency is approaching the regulatory red line. As of the end of the third quarter of 2025, the company's core solvency adequacy ratio and comprehensive solvency adequacy ratio were 71.41% and 107.16% respectively. According to projections, these two indicators are expected to decline by 3.97 percentage points and 2.85 percentage points next quarter, moving closer to the trigger points for regulatory compulsory measures.
So, as Ping An-system executives gradually take their positions, can their management experience and resource empowerment offset the historical burdens accumulated over twenty-four years? Can the "mini-Ping An" model take root and bear fruit in this soil? The answer lies with time.