Citibank: Cautiously optimistic about the growth of China's life insurance industry in 2027, China Ping An (02318), China Taibao (02601), and China Financial Insurance (02328)

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Citibank released a research report saying that the value of China Life Insurance Company's new business grew moderately in the first nine months of 2026, in line with expectations, reflecting a high comparative base and disruptions in banking insurance supervision. The bank remains cautiously optimistic about the growth of the life insurance industry in 2027, believing that continued structural shifts in household wealth allocation and restructuring of banking insurance channels can provide support. In view of economic uncertainty, the bank continues to prefer defensive stocks with high dividends and a progressive dividend policy, including Ping An of China (02318), China Taibao (02601), and China Financial Insurance (02328).

In terms of industrial insurance, despite high losses from natural disasters, China Ping An, China Taibao, and China People's Insurance Group (01339) improved 1.4 percentage points, 1.4 percentage points, and 0.3 percentage points year-on-year, respectively, to 95.6%, 96.2%, and 95.8%, respectively, over the first nine months of this year. The bank expects the industrial insurance industry's upward cycle driven by regulations to continue, and the comprehensive cost ratio is expected to improve further in 2027. In terms of profit, the net profit of insurance companies fell by 20% to 47% year on year in the first nine months of 2026. Overall performance was weak, but operating profit still recorded a resilient increase of 6% to 16% year over year, and book value and solvency levels were generally stable from quarter to quarter.