The five major A-share listed insurance companies released their interim profit distribution plans alongside their 2025 semi-annual reports. According to data compiled on September 2nd, Ping An Insurance (Group) Company Of China, China Life Insurance, People's Insurance Company of China, and New China Life Insurance plan to distribute interim profits totaling approximately 293.36 billion yuan (including tax).
On one hand, listed insurers need to maintain appropriate dividend levels to stabilize investor confidence and support current stock prices; on the other hand, they must also consider potential situations such as investment income volatility and solvency levels, adjusting accordingly. Insurance companies need to find the right balance between shareholder returns and their own business development.
**Balancing Shareholder Returns and Capital Safety**
In the first half of this year, on the investment side, capital markets warmed up and multiple listed insurers saw significant growth in investment income. On the liability side, with the impact of predetermined interest rate reductions and liability cost optimization, key insurance business indicators improved. In the first half of the year, the five major A-share listed insurers achieved a combined net profit of 178.192 billion yuan, up 3.7% year-on-year.
With net profit growth, how are listed insurers' dividend distributions to investors? Currently, among the five major A-share listed insurers, except for China Pacific Insurance, the other four companies - Ping An Insurance (Group) Company Of China, China Life Insurance, People's Insurance Company of China, and New China Life Insurance - have all announced interim dividends.
Specifically, Ping An Insurance (Group) Company Of China will distribute an interim cash dividend of 0.95 yuan per share to shareholders, totaling 172.02 billion yuan. According to Ping An's Deputy General Manager and Chief Financial Officer Fu Xin, the company's proposed interim dividend per share this year increased by 2.2% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the company's cumulative dividends since listing have exceeded 400 billion yuan, with dividends continuously rising over the past decade. Additionally, China Life Insurance, People's Insurance Company of China, and New China Life Insurance plan to distribute interim cash dividends of 67.27 billion yuan, 33.17 billion yuan, and 20.9 billion yuan respectively, with the four companies' combined dividend amount totaling approximately 293.36 billion yuan (including tax).
Lin Xianping, Associate Professor at Zhejiang University City College, views this approximately 29.3 billion yuan interim dividend from the four major listed insurers as "prudently positive," matching first-half earnings and balancing shareholder returns with capital safety.
Regarding dividend continuity, Ping An Insurance (Group) Company Of China has maintained interim dividends for multiple consecutive years, while New China Life Insurance, China Life Insurance, and People's Insurance Company of China added interim dividends last year. All four companies have maintained continuity in their interim dividend policies. Wu Zewei, Special Researcher at Suzhou Merchants Bank, stated that stable dividends have multiple meanings for listed insurers' market value management: first, directly rewarding shareholders and enhancing market confidence, helping shape an image of steady operations and attracting long-term value investors; second, consolidating market position by improving investor returns.
**Need to Balance Own Operating Conditions**
For listed insurers, high dividends can better reward investors and help boost market value, but dividends also mean some surplus funds flow out, potentially constraining companies' endogenous capital accumulation and potential investment capabilities, possibly affecting internal capital growth.
Furthermore, the implementation of new financial instrument standards has significantly intensified the net profit volatility of listed insurers, also affecting the continuity and stability of dividend policies. This is because after implementing new financial instrument standards, more financial assets are classified as trading financial assets, with their fair value changes directly reflected in current income statements. These book floating gains and losses fluctuate with capital market movements, making net profits more obviously influenced by the investment side.
When discussing dividend policies, executives from multiple insurers mentioned considerations regarding new accounting standards and long-term development. People's Insurance Company of China President Zhao Peng stated at the company's interim performance conference that the company will focus on long-term stable growth in dividends per share, while balancing dividend ratios and dividend yields under new and old insurance accounting standards, striving to enhance profitability to provide shareholders with continuous, stable, and predictable returns. New China Life Insurance President Assistant and Board Secretary Liu Zhiyong also mentioned that the company's future dividend policy will be formulated according to regulatory guidelines, comprehensively considering the company's industry conditions, development stage, business model, profitability level, solvency, and funding needs, while considering shareholder expectations and comparing peer dividend situations. The company will create long-term sustainable returns for all shareholders.
Looking ahead, Wu Zewei predicts that although new financial instrument standards increase earnings volatility, insurers can maintain policy continuity and predictability through smoothing distribution mechanisms and controlling dividend ratios. Driven by regulatory encouragement and market competition, insurers are expected to place greater emphasis on shareholder returns, with long-term stable growth in dividends per share becoming a core objective. Meanwhile, as the industry transforms toward high-quality development and companies optimize liability costs, insurers' profit foundations are expected to be consolidated, thereby providing support for continued dividends.