The banking and insurance channels are making great strides, with further regulatory tightening on the "reporting and banking integration" policy.

This article is reprinted from: New Express

New Express News Reporter Lin Guanghao reports that the growth momentum of bancassurance channels remains strong. The “tightening” spell of “reporting and operation integration” is getting tighter and tighter. Industry insiders say that the National Financial Regulatory Administration has recently issued the “Notice on Further Strengthening the Management of Bank-Agency Channel Fees” (hereinafter referred to as the “Notice”) and supporting materials in the form of an FAQ. This deepens supervision of “reporting and operation integration” for bancassurance channels from multiple dimensions, including fee reporting and internal assessment.

Incorporate compliance management into internal assessment and accountability mechanisms

The so-called “reporting and operation integration” means requiring an insurance company’s reported fees to match its actual execution. Since 2023, the National Financial Regulatory Administration has continued to deepen regulation. According to disclosures by the National Financial Regulatory Administration, through its in-depth efforts to implement “reporting and operation integration,” life insurance companies have reduced costs by 350 billion yuan since 2024.

Compared with the 66th document issued at the beginning of 2024, this “Notice” applies more refined supervision from multiple perspectives. According to the “Notice,” when insurance companies submit filings for bancassurance channel product records, in addition to the commission and other levels previously required to be paid to banks, they must also report the salary and incentives for bancassurance specialists, training and customer service fees, and allocated fixed expenses. When an insurance company carries out bancassurance agency channel business, it must implement the fee policies according to the actuarial reports of the products that have been filed/recorded; and any expense incurred must obtain genuine, lawful, and valid supporting documents.

The “Notice” also requires that compliance management for “reporting and operation integration” be incorporated into the insurance company’s internal assessment and accountability mechanisms, including the insurance company’s board of directors conducting at least one special hearing each year on reports regarding “reporting and operation integration.”

In terms of inspections, the “Notice” clearly specifies that an industry notification mechanism will be established for violations related to “reporting and operation integration” and typical cases, and that relevant information will be promptly reported to regulatory departments of insurance group headquarters and their legal entity institutions.

Shift from “fee competition” to “value competition”

As regulatory efforts continue to intensify and reforms keep deepening, the strategic position of bancassurance channels has been elevated. Last year, listed insurance companies achieved double growth in both premium scale and new business value. In 2025, China Life’s bancassurance channel total premiums were 110.874 billion yuan, up 45.5% year over year, including new policy premiums of 58.506 billion yuan, up 95.7%; New China Life Insurance’s bancassurance premium income was 72.102 billion yuan, up 39.5%, including that the first-year premium of long-term policies increased by 52.3% year over year; Pacific Life’s bancassurance channel scale premium income was 61.618 billion yuan, up 46.4%, including that new policy premiums increased by 35.5% year over year; PICC Life Insurance’s premium income was 68.278 billion yuan, up 33.5%, including that first-year premiums for long-term policies increased by 41.4%. Regarding new business value, the bancassurance channels of Ping An Life, New China Insurance, and PICC Life Insurance all achieved double-digit growth with a doubling year over year.

While bancassurance channel premiums are soaring, irregularities and violations within insurance companies are not stopping. In September 2025, Ruizhong Life’s Shanwei branch was fined 100,000 yuan because bancassurance channel expenses were not authentic. In October of the same year, New China Insurance’s Fuzhou branch was warned and fined 208,000 yuan because items such as bancassurance handling fees were not authentic. In December of the same year, Ruizhong Life’s Qingyuan branch was fined 100,000 yuan for fabricating commissions for bancassurance channel sales agents.

An analyst at CICC Securities said that the “Notice” pushes the core of competition in the bancassurance industry to shift from “fee competition” to “value competition.” In the short term, some insurance companies may face pains during their transition, but in the long run, the “Notice” will effectively rectify disorder and irregularities in the industry and promote a shift toward high-quality development in the bancassurance industry.