Tian An Life Insurance Co., Ltd. recently issued an announcement disclosing that its capital supplement bond issued in 2015, referred to as "15 Tian An Life," was scheduled to mature and be repaid on December 29, 2025. However, as the company is currently undergoing risk disposal, it lacks the capacity to repay the principal and interest, making it unable to complete the payment on schedule. The company has issued a communication letter to bondholders, clarifying that this capital supplement bond will be comprehensively arranged and handled as part of the ongoing risk disposal work.
Public information shows that "15 Tian An Life" had a total issuance amount of 2 billion yuan, structured as a ten-year fixed-rate bond with a conditional issuer redemption option at the end of the fifth year. Issued on December 25, 2015, the bond featured a stepped coupon rate: 6.25% for the first five years, which then jumped to 7.25% for the subsequent five years. Notably, since Tian An Life was taken over by regulatory authorities in July 2020, the company decided not to exercise the bond's redemption option and suspended interest payments, citing ongoing asset verification work. This failure to repay at maturity represents the final and explicit materialization of the bond's inherent risk. As of the latest information, "15 Tian An Life" is the sole remaining bond issued by Tian An Life, with the default amount equaling its full issuance value of 2 billion yuan.
This bond default is not an isolated incident but rather the inevitable outcome of the long-term accumulation of risks at Tian An Life and the subsequent regulatory intervention. As one of the core insurance institutions under the "Tomorrow Group," Tian An Life had its business license revoked by the National Financial Regulatory Administration on June 13, 2025, due to multiple serious violations of laws and regulations. The specific infractions included submitting false corporate governance reports, inaccurate statements in directors' diligence reports, non-compliant compensation management reports, allowing executives to perform duties without obtaining the necessary qualifications, illegally using investment assets for guarantees or loans, and improperly transferring benefits to the actual controller through related-party transactions.
Concurrent with the revocation of its business license, regulatory authorities imposed severe penalties on the responsible individuals: Liu Zheng, Zhou Lieren, and several others received warnings and collective fines totaling 990,000 yuan. Furthermore, individuals including Wang Wei, Ji Zhe, and Zhang Lu were banned for life from working in the insurance industry, while others faced entry restrictions of 10 years, 5 years, and 3 years, respectively. This disciplinary action was not an isolated case; Tian An Property & Casualty Insurance Co., another "Tomorrow Group" insurer, also had its business license revoked around the same time. In total, 35 individuals associated with the two institutions were penalized with warnings, fines, revocation of qualifications, and lifetime industry bans, signaling an acceleration in the resolution process for "Tomorrow Group" insurers.
On July 18, 2025, Tian An Life officially exited the insurance market. Prior to this, its risk disposal plan had been gradually implemented: in September 2023, the National Financial Regulatory Administration's Beijing Bureau approved Zhonghui Life Insurance to comprehensively assume the insurance business, along with the corresponding assets and liabilities, of Tian An Life, aiming to protect the legitimate rights and interests of insurance consumers.
Zhonghui Life Insurance was jointly established by Central Huijin Investment Ltd. and the China Insurance Security Fund Co., Ltd., with Central Huijin holding an 80% stake and the Insurance Security Fund holding 20%. Its role in taking over these operations represents a significant practical case of market-based risk disposal for financial institutions.
It is noteworthy that this bond default by Tian An Life echoes a previous default involving a capital supplement bond from Tian An Property & Casualty Insurance, which was also part of the "Tomorrow Group." On September 30, 2025, Tian An P&C's "15 Tian An P&C Bond," with a scale of 5.3 billion yuan, failed to be repaid upon maturity, marking the first case of a bond default in China's insurance industry.
Industry insiders point out that the bond defaults at these two "Tomorrow Group" insurers highlight the subordinated position of capital supplement bonds in the creditor hierarchy during financial institution risk disposal. According to relevant rules, the claims of insurance company capital supplement bonds rank after policyholder liabilities and other ordinary debts but before equity capital. Consequently, when an institution lacks sufficient solvency, these bonds cannot be prioritized for repayment.
From a broader industry perspective, the risk disposal of Tian An Life constitutes a crucial component of China's ongoing efforts to prevent and resolve financial risks.
Since the former China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission initiated the takeover of four "Tomorrow Group" insurers—Tian An P&C, Huaxia Life, Tian An Life, and Yi An P&C—in July 2020, the related disposal work has been progressively concluded. Through diverse models such as "establishing new entities for assumption followed by bankruptcy" and "market-based reorganization," these efforts have effectively contained the spread of risks across institutions and markets, thereby strengthening the long-term mechanism for financial stability.
The comprehensive handling of the "15 Tian An Life" bond will also adhere to the principles of market orientation and rule of law, aiming to properly balance the rights and interests of creditors and other relevant parties within the established risk disposal framework.