Recently, all five A-share listed insurance companies have disclosed their first-half 2025 reports.

As important patient capital providers, the investment activities of listed insurers have drawn considerable attention. In the first half of 2025, the five major listed insurers actively responded to policies encouraging insurance funds to enter the market. By the end of Q2, the combined stock investment amount of the five major insurers reached 1.846 trillion yuan, an increase of 411.858 billion yuan from the beginning of the year, representing a growth rate of nearly 30%.

Additionally, the five insurers achieved strong investment performance in the first half, with combined total investment returns of 367.377 billion yuan, up nearly 9% year-over-year. China Life (601628.SH) topped the list with returns of 127.506 billion yuan, accounting for over 30% of the total.

Looking at individual performance, there was significant differentiation in total investment return rates among insurers. New China Life Insurance Company Ltd. (601336.SH) led the industry with an annualized total investment return rate of 5.9%, followed closely by PICC (601319.SH) at 5.1%, up 1 percentage point year-over-year. In comparison, China Life maintained a steady total investment return rate of 3.29%. CPIC (601601.SH) saw its total investment return rate decline to 2.3%, the lowest among the five companies.

Ping An (601318.SH) did not disclose its total investment return rate in the semi-annual report, but its insurance fund investment portfolio achieved a non-annualized comprehensive investment return rate of 3.1% in the first half of 2025, up 0.3 percentage points year-over-year.

"Ping An's investment strategy is not isolated but forms the core of the company's asset-liability matching," Ping An Co-CEO Guo Xiaotao stated. "Ping An's investment strategy involves five types of matching: duration matching, cost matching, cash flow matching, return rate matching, and regulatory requirement matching, to effectively link the investment side with the liability side and generate interest margin income, which is Ping An's core objective."

**Total Investment Returns of Five Listed Insurers Rise 9% to 367.3 Billion Yuan, New China Life Insurance Leads in Growth**

In the first half of 2025, the five listed insurers - China Life, Ping An, New China Life Insurance, CPIC, and PICC - had combined investment assets totaling 19.73 trillion yuan, achieving total investment returns of 367.377 billion yuan, up nearly 9% year-over-year.

Amid a complex environment of low bond market interest rates and structural differentiation in the stock market, insurance funds demonstrated steady investment performance, highlighting their role as stabilizers and long-term forces in capital markets.

In terms of investment asset scale, China Life and Ping An formed the first tier with 7.13 trillion yuan and 6.20 trillion yuan respectively, growing 7.8% and 8.2% from the beginning of the year. CPIC ranked third with 2.92 trillion yuan, while PICC and New China Life Insurance were in the third tier with 1.76 trillion yuan and 1.71 trillion yuan respectively, with gradually narrowing gaps in asset scale.

The total investment returns of major insurers showed a clear pattern of concentration among leading companies and differentiated growth rates.

From total investment returns perspective, the five listed insurers achieved combined returns of 367.377 billion yuan in the first half, equivalent to daily investment gains of 2.007 billion yuan (calculated over 183 days). China Life topped the list with 127.506 billion yuan, accounting for 34.7% of the five insurers' total investment returns. This performance was supported by its 7.13 trillion yuan investment asset scale, representing 36.13% of the five companies' combined assets, with this large asset base forming the core support for its absolute return advantage. Ping An followed with 96.216 billion yuan, though its total investment returns declined slightly by 1.8% year-over-year.

In stark contrast, New China Life Insurance and PICC demonstrated strong growth momentum, achieving total investment returns of 45.288 billion yuan and 41.478 billion yuan respectively, leading with year-over-year growth rates of 43.26% and 42.71%. CPIC performed relatively conservatively, with total investment returns of 56.889 billion yuan, growing only 1.52% year-over-year.

From total investment return rates perspective, the five insurers showed significant differentiation in the first half, reflecting different asset allocation strategies.

New China Life Insurance led the industry with an annualized total investment return rate of 5.9%, up 1.1 percentage points year-over-year. PICC followed closely at 5.1%, up 1 percentage point year-over-year. Both companies allocated higher proportions to equity assets, with New China Life Insurance's 11.6% stock allocation ratio being the highest among the five, and PICC's combined stock and fund allocation ratio also rising to 10.7%.

In comparison, China Life maintained a steady total investment return rate of 3.29%. CPIC, with fixed-income assets accounting for over 75%, saw its total investment return rate decline to 2.3%, the lowest among the five. CPIC's semi-annual report indicated that the decline in total investment return rate was mainly due to decreased fair value changes in fixed-income assets compared to the previous year.

Ping An did not disclose its total investment return rate in the 2025 semi-annual report, but its insurance fund investment portfolio achieved a non-annualized comprehensive investment return rate of 3.1% in the first half of 2025, up 0.3 percentage points year-over-year. Over the past 10 years, it achieved an average net investment return rate of 5.0% and average comprehensive investment return rate of 5.1%, exceeding embedded value long-term investment return assumptions.

**Increased Stock Allocation Ratios, Stock Investment Amounts Rise Over 400 Billion Yuan in First Half**

Listed insurers universally increased their allocation ratios to stock assets.

Facing the challenge of 10-year government bond yields falling below 1.8%, insurers' asset allocation strategies tilted toward equity markets, actively responding to requirements for medium and long-term funds to enter the market. By the end of Q2 this year, the five major insurers' combined stock investment amount reached 1.846 trillion yuan, an increase of 411.858 billion yuan from the beginning of the year, representing a growth rate of 28.71%.

China Life actively deployed in areas related to new quality productive forces and increased allocation to high-quality, high-dividend assets, raising its stock and fund allocation ratio from 12.22% at the end of 2024 to 13.62% at the end of the first half.

China Life Vice President Liu Hui stated at a recent earnings conference that current A-share market valuations are generally reasonable, the market bottom is relatively solid, and positive factors are accumulating. Therefore, the company remains optimistic about A-shares in the second half and will focus on investment opportunities in technological innovation, consumer manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, new consumption, and overseas expansion companies. The allocation strategy for the second half will revolve around "stabilizing allocated assets and optimizing flexible assets," adopting a neutral and flexible allocation approach to ensure the asset-liability duration gap remains at a low level.

Ping An consistently adheres to the guiding principles of long-term investment and liability matching. As of the end of the first half of 2025, Ping An's insurance fund investment scale was 6.2 trillion yuan, with stock assets accounting for 10.5%, up 2.9 percentage points from the beginning of the year. Among stock assets, FVTOCI stocks accounted for 65%.

Guo Xiaotao stated that this series of asset allocations can help Ping An effectively improve investment returns and generate favorable spreads between liability costs and investment returns. Good asset-liability matching and investment returns enable Ping An's dividend insurance products to maintain strong competitiveness, offsetting the impact of declining predetermined interest rates.

PICC Vice President Cai Zhiwei stated at the company's 2025 interim earnings conference that PICC Group has increased market entry efforts and steadily raised A-share investment asset scale and proportions. As of the end of June, the group's A-share investment asset scale grew 26.1% from the beginning of the year, with its proportion in total investment assets rising 1.2 percentage points. In the future, PICC Group will continue to diversify equity investment models, strengthen research and reserves of quality targets, and appropriately increase investment through private placements, strategic stakes, and strategic investments in targets that align with national strategic directions, maintain steady long-term business performance, and possess strong development potential.

New China Life Insurance expanded its equity deployment through private equity funds, investing 10 billion yuan and 11.25 billion yuan in May and July 2025 respectively to subscribe to Honghu Zhiyuan Phase II and Phase III fund shares. As of the end of the first half of 2025, the Phase II fund is being allocated, and the Phase III fund is under preparation.

The Honghu Zhiyuan series private equity funds were jointly initiated by China Life and New China Life Insurance, focusing on large-cap blue chips among CSI A500 constituent stocks, investing in key industries related to national economy and people's livelihood. Holdings include Yili, Shaanxi Coal Industry, and China Telecom, practicing the "long money, long investment" philosophy.

A relevant person from China Life's asset management company stated that Honghu funds adhere to the long-term capital attributes of insurance funds, persist in viewing capital market trends with high-quality development concepts, and invest in and hold long-term stocks of large-cap blue chip companies with good corporate governance, steady operations, relatively stable dividends, good stock liquidity, and favorable dividend returns. This approach further reduces the impact of short-term stock price volatility on insurance companies' financial statements and promotes long-term, stable, and sustainable investment returns.