Investment strength drives profitability. Insurance asset management companies serve as crucial investment platforms for insurers and offer a window into their investment capabilities.

Wind data shows that 33 insurance asset management companies have disclosed their 2025 financial reports. Collectively, these 33 firms reported total operating revenue of 45.998 billion yuan and a combined net profit of 20.623 billion yuan for 2025. Compared to 2024 data, China-UK Yili Asset Management did not disclose its 2025 operational figures. Excluding China-UK Yili's data, the remaining 33 companies reported total operating revenue of 40.64 billion yuan and a combined net profit of 17.911 billion yuan in 2024.

This indicates that, from an industry-wide perspective, the operating revenue of insurance asset management companies grew by 13.18% year-over-year in 2025, while net profit increased by 15.14%.

Foreign institutions are also expressing optimism about investment opportunities in China's capital market. On December 31, 2025, AIA Insurance Asset Management Co., Ltd. and Hequan Insurance Asset Management Co., Ltd. simultaneously received approval from the Shanghai Financial Regulatory Bureau to commence operations. This year, driven by both the asset allocation needs of insurance funds and the deepening of investment research capabilities, the insurance asset management industry is expected to advance towards high-quality development amidst ongoing market differentiation.

"Matthew Effect" Evident

The 2025 performance of insurance asset management institutions was generally robust, with leading firms strengthening their advantages.

In terms of operating revenue, three companies reported revenues exceeding 5 billion yuan in 2025: China Life Insurance Asset Management Co., Ltd. (82.5 billion yuan), Taikang Asset Management Co., Ltd. (79.26 billion yuan), and Ping An Asset Management Co., Ltd. (50.07 billion yuan). Their combined revenue of 211.83 billion yuan accounted for 46% of the total revenue of the 33 firms.

The "big three" — China Life Asset Management, Taikang Asset Management, and Ping An Asset Management — all achieved double-digit growth in both revenue and net profit for 2025. Specifically, China Life Asset Management's revenue reached 82.5 billion yuan, a year-over-year increase of over 23%, with net profit at 49.16 billion yuan, up 27.5%. Taikang Asset Management reported revenue of 79.26 billion yuan, a rise of over 26%, and net profit of 40.24 billion yuan, a significant increase of 41.5%. Ping An Asset Management's revenue was 50.07 billion yuan, up over 23%, with net profit at 30.55 billion yuan, an increase of 24.6%.

In 2025, eight companies had operating revenues between 1 billion and 5 billion yuan. These were China Life Investment Insurance Asset Management Co., Ltd., Pacific Asset Management Co., Ltd., China Taiping Asset Management Co., Ltd., Huatai Asset Management Co., Ltd., PICC Asset Management Co., Ltd., Sunshine Asset Management Co., Ltd., New China Asset Management Co., Ltd., and China Re Asset Management Co., Ltd.

Regarding net profit, four companies reported profits above 1 billion yuan in 2025: China Life Asset Management (48.2 billion yuan), Taikang Asset Management (40.15 billion yuan), Ping An Asset Management (30.14 billion yuan), and China Life Investment (10.05 billion yuan). Their combined net profit of 128.54 billion yuan represented 62.33% of the total net profit of the 33 firms.

China-UK Yili Asset Management, which did not disclose its 2025 report, had unsatisfactory business performance in 2024. Currently, several of its shareholders are also facing challenges.

The net profit distribution among insurance asset management companies clearly shows a "Matthew Effect." While the four leading firms accounted for over 60% of the industry's net profit, 11 companies reported net profits below 100 million yuan in 2025.

Three New Entrants to the "Trillion-Yuan" Club

In terms of assets under management (AUM), eight companies had maintained stable AUM above one trillion yuan for many years prior to 2025. These included China Life Asset Management, Ping An Asset Management, Taikang Asset Management, New China Asset Management, PICC Asset Management, China Taiping Asset Management, Pacific Asset Management, and Changjiang Pension.

In 2025, three insurance asset management companies newly joined the "trillion-yuan" AUM tier: China JiuYin Asset Management, Huatai Asset Management, and Dajia Asset Management.

China JiuYin Asset Management is the asset management subsidiary of Ruizhong Life Insurance. Its 2025 annual report was the first it has disclosed since 2020, showing total AUM exceeding 1.3 trillion yuan.

Huatai Asset Management originated from the investment department of Huatai Property & Casualty Insurance and was formally established in January 2005. On January 18 of this year, Huatai Insurance Group stated that Huatai Asset Management achieved record highs in AUM, management fee income, and total profit in 2025, with AUM surpassing the 1 trillion yuan mark. Specifically, its securities investment business achieved double-digit growth, pension and annuity business and institutional business developed rapidly, insurance credit investment plan business grew steadily, and it established a joint venture with the international leading private equity firm GA.

Dajia Asset Management is the professional asset management company under Dajia Insurance Group. The company was officially established in May 2011 with a registered capital of 600 million yuan. As of December 31, 2025, its entrusted AUM was 1.0297 trillion yuan.

The 2025 performance of these three newly "trillion-yuan" asset managers varied. Specifically, China JiuYin reported operating revenue of 496 million yuan, a decrease of 11.7% year-over-year, and net profit of 95 million yuan, down 17.4%. Huatai Asset Management reported operating revenue of 1.966 billion yuan, an increase of 7.2%, and net profit of 855 million yuan, up 3.3%. Dajia Asset Management reported revenue of 549 million yuan, up 4%, and net profit of 218 million yuan, an increase of 16.5%.

Divergence in Investment Capabilities

For asset management institutions, their return on equity (ROE) can better reflect their investment capabilities.

According to analysis by Orient Securities, the average ROE for insurance asset management institutions reached 18.5% in 2025. The ROE for the "big three" — China Life Asset Management, Taikang Asset Management, and Ping An Asset Management — was 21.5%, 37.7%, and 28.6%, respectively, in 2025.

In terms of ROE, Minsheng Tonghui Asset Management (established with capital from Minsheng Life Insurance), a medium and small-sized institution, reported a relatively high ROE of 64.2% in 2025. Other companies with high ROE included Sunshine Asset Management at 49.7%. Several firms, including Changjiang Pension, CCB Insurance Asset Management, Huatai Asset Management, and CITIC Prudential Asset Management, reported ROE above 20%.

"Insurance asset management companies' operating revenue and net profit primarily reflect the management fee income, operational efficiency, and returns on proprietary capital of the asset management platform itself, which differs significantly from the investment return rate of insurance funds. However, indicators such as AUM and ROE can reflect the investment scale of the group, the operational capability of the investment platform, and marginal changes in their contribution to the insurance group's profits," an Orient Securities research report noted.

Performance data for insurance asset management products compiled by Wind shows that the median annualized return for these products in 2025 was 3.26%, with an arithmetic average of 7.48%. As of December 31, 2025, the top ten performing insurance asset management products were ICBC-AXA Cycle Growth No. 1, Everbright永明 Assets Specialized and Sophisticated Equity, Sunshine Assets - Innovation Growth, Sunshine Assets - Industry Flexible Allocation, ICBC-AXA Cycle Growth No. 2, Taikang Assets - Cycle Selection, Everbright永明 Jubao No. 1, China Re Assets Technology兴邦, Pacific Growth精选 Stock型, and Sunshine Assets - Value优选. In terms of annualized return, ICBC-AXA Cycle Growth No. 1 achieved an annualized return of 115.37% in 2025, making it the annual return champion.

Meanwhile, some insurance asset management products delivered less impressive performance in 2025. Wind data shows that Taikang Assets - Yuetai Enhanced No. 2 had an annualized return of -57.36% for the year. Minsheng Tonghui Tianhui No. 1 and Hua'an Property & Casualty Insurance Asset Management Anyuan Fixed Income reported annualized returns of -31.39% and -23.19%, respectively, for 2025.

Overall, the insurance asset management industry demonstrated strong overall performance in 2025, but with significant structural divergence: a small number of leading companies contributed the vast majority of revenue and profit, indicating increasing industry concentration. The gap in investment capabilities among insurance asset management companies is substantial; larger scale does not necessarily equate to better return performance, and some small and medium-sized institutions反而 demonstrated stronger ability to generate excess returns. In summary, while maintaining high growth, the industry is entering a period of deep adjustment where "scale and capability are equally emphasized." For insurance asset management companies, guiding differentiated development and avoiding homogeneous competition amidst this divergence will be a key challenge in the next phase.