Brokerages "cross boundaries" to break through as insurance distribution enters the second half.
Since 2025, after the China Securities Association clearly stated that it would "promote more compliant and effective risk-controlled securities firms to obtain licenses for selling bank wealth management and insurance products," the "appearance rate" of insurance products on securities firms' shelves has been increasingly high.
Wang Ping (pseudonym), a top-tier securities firm financial advisor, admits that the proportion of insurance sales in her daily work is quietly increasing.
Now, her desk is filled with increased whole life insurance plan booklets that used to belong only to insurance agents or bank tellers.
Each time at the end of the quarter or during periods when guaranteed interest rates are expected to drop, the pressure for insurance sales assessments comes like a tidal wave. Under the constant rhythm of annual and quarterly "sprints," Wang Ping laments, "The pressure is huge, and during the 'Opening Red,' I've already gone numb."
Her troubles are not unique.
Another staff member at a branch of a leading securities firm revealed that their branch frequently emphasizes insurance KPIs, and under performance target pressure, they have repeatedly chosen to buy insurance for themselves or family members.
Xinfeng has noticed that recently, several securities firms such as CITIC Securities, China Merchants Securities, Ping An Securities, and GF Securities have launched insurance sections on their apps, displayed alongside stocks, funds, and wealth management products.
All signs indicate that securities firms are gradually moving toward "selling insurance."
Behind this is securities firms' breakthrough in transforming their wealth management business under operating pressure, and in an era of stock-based competition, it is a true reflection of financial institutions' boundaries gradually blurring.
Focusing on “Selling Insurance”
Xinfeng found that after the China Securities Association supported securities firms in obtaining insurance sales licenses in 2025, the number of securities firms holding insurance intermediary licenses issued by the Financial Regulatory Authority has not increased, remaining at 11 firms as in 2022.
At the same time, very few securities firms have insurance brokerage companies under their name with insurance sales licenses and can carry out related business.
From the number of licenses, although many frontline staff have felt clear performance pressure, "selling insurance" is still a relatively niche market among securities firms' business.
The limited number does not prevent existing license holders from "running ahead."
As of now, five leading securities firms including CITIC Securities, China Merchants Securities, and Ping An Securities have taken the lead in launching insurance sections on their self-operated apps.
In terms of product quantity, Ping An Securities and CITIC Securities respectively offer 56 and 20 types of insurance products, while China Merchants Securities and GF Securities offer 8;
Galaxy Securities has only 1 insurance product for sale, but historical records show that the firm has previously sold several endowment insurance products from New China Life and Guomin Pension Insurance, though these products are no longer offered recently.
The securities firms focusing on insurance agency sales largely have a "group combat" gene:
For example, Ping An Securities lists securities, property insurance, Peking University Medical, and life insurance side by side on the app's homepage.
In addition to selected insurance products, the section also offers investor education consultation channels, with content covering 1-on-1 consulting, pension and education planning.
Among the major securities firms, Ping An Securities offers the richest variety of insurance products:
In addition to savings-type insurances with strong wealth management attributes like life insurance and annuities, Ping An Securities also provides accident, health, children's, and travel insurance closely related to daily life, even setting up a special section for pet insurance.
It can be observed that, thanks to the group's rich product line, Ping An Securities is trying hard to put insurance products that cover the entire life cycle onto its app, building a comprehensive insurance sales platform.
This also reflects Ping An Group's overall strategy, turning the securities app from a single trading channel into a traffic distribution center for comprehensive financial services.
CITIC Securities and China Merchants Securities have also launched multiple products related to their associated insurance companies:
For example, CITIC Securities has launched 12 CITIC Prudential Life products, the former being 18.45% owned by CITIC Financial Holdings, and the latter 50% owned;
China Merchants Securities has launched 7 products from China Merchants Renhe Life, with Merchants Holdings holding 23.55% and 20% respectively in the two companies.
This may piece together two core logics for securities firms selling insurance in the initial stage:
First, focus on selling collaborative products; in the initial stage, priority is given to using internal group resources, which both quickly fills the shelves and reduces integration costs.
Second, focus more on insurance’s wealth management attributes; except for Ping An Securities, the insurance products launched by other firms are all life or annuity products, putting greater value on capital appreciation than pure risk protection.
Additionally, some insurance companies have started paying attention to securities firm channels; for example, Taiping Life, though not affiliated with any securities firm, has appeared in the sales lists of several securities firms.
This may indicate that, amid the reforms of fee rates in bancassurance channels and increased competition, insurance companies are also eager to find new traffic outlets.
Of course, the data on the app does not present the full picture of securities firms’ insurance agency business.
Some securities institutions point out that online insurance sections serve mainly a showcasing purpose, while much of the agency sales activity still centers offline.
Since 2022, CITIC Securities has obtained the industry's only pilot opportunity for combined agency as "corporate license and branch registration";
China Merchants Securities and Ping An Securities have respectively obtained approval for insurance sales qualifications at 11 and 6 branches.
Xinfeng consulted CITIC Securities’ North China branch and found that insurance products sold at the branch include, in addition to products available on the app, a wide variety from companies such as Taikang Life, Generali China Life, covering life, annuity, and critical illness insurance, which are more diverse than the online offerings.
This means that in offline branches—the "capillaries" of the system—collaboration between securities firms and insurance companies has quietly broken past group coordination limits and moved toward a more market-oriented "full shelf" competition.
“Money” Prospects and Challenges
For securities firms, selling insurance may be a hot trend but is not easy.
Looking back over a longer timeline, the origin of securities firms selling insurance is not behind that of banks.
In 2001, when the bancassurance channel was rapidly expanding, Galaxy Securities piloted insurance agency sales at its Shanghai branch, Xiangcai Securities established an insurance agency subsidiary, and Metlife China cooperated with three securities headquarters.
In 2022, the CSRC allowed securities firms to sell insurance products, opening the door institutionally;
But it was not until ten years after the policy breakthrough that CITIC Securities in 2022 disclosed the launch of insurance agency sales, becoming the industry’s only pilot firm licensed for both "corporate and branch registration";
After 2022, China Merchants Securities and Ping An Securities gradually obtained branch insurance sales qualifications;
By July 2025, the “28 Articles for High-Quality Development of the Securities Industry” explicitly supported securities firms in obtaining insurance sales licenses, and all major securities firms began putting insurance products on their app shelves intensively.
Why did securities firms “start early but arrive late”?
Long Ge, co-founder and GM of Zhongtuobang, points out that securities firms’ early insurance agency business did not expand in scale mainly because of a mismatch in client risk preferences and immature sales systems.
For a long time, securities firms faced individual investors seeking high returns and accustomed to the volatility of stock charts, while their client managers’ insurance expertise lagged behind that of insurance agents and bank tellers.
But today, Long Ge notes that the operating environment for securities firms has reversed:
On one hand is policy—the 2025 support from the China Securities Association has provided an institutional basis for business expansion in selling insurance;
On the other hand, securities firms themselves are under operating pressure; as commission rates bottom out, they need to find new growth via wealth management transformation. The 2% agency commission for insurance, and the continuous cash flow from regular premium products, can bring stable intermediate earnings.
More importantly, when facing the three major channels of agents, bancassurance, and brokers in insurance sales, securities firms may well have “competitive power.”
The core lies in the deep adjustments on the life insurance liability side in recent years.
With declining interest rates, insurers now tend to reduce the proportion of just-guaranteed products on the liability side, freeing up the investment side.
Several leading insurers have this year declared their support for floating-yield products, with participating (dividend) products—where guarantee is lower—frequently taking center stage in promotions.
Although promoting dividend insurance is a major trend, such products have complex terms, requiring agents to thoroughly understand the dividend mechanisms and customers to accept yield fluctuations, which often hinders sales performance.
However, while volatility is “poison” for bank customers used to guarantees, for stock investors who watch charts daily, it's “sweet.”
Long Ge points out that compared to traditional agents and bancassurance channels, securities firms have three core advantages:
First: high risk tolerance among clients—stock investors are more open to complex products like dividend insurance and investment-linked insurance, and naturally fit the “guarantee + floating” yield model;
Second: investment advisory teams skilled in asset allocation—rather than simply selling products, securities investment advisors have a holistic view, able to incorporate insurance into private placements, family trusts, and cross-cycle planning scenarios;
Third: digital transaction systems fit frequent interactive needs—providing better user experience and efficiency than traditional offline agent models.
Indeed, today even the trust built on “investment profits” in the current market underpins securities firms selling insurance.
Wang Ping notes that some wealth advisors in her branch have achieved quite good insurance sales results.
"Some investors aren't opposed to buying insurance; it's just about who's selling it," Wang Ping said. "These advisors know their core clients well, and since previous investment suggestions helped them make money, clients are happy to accept insurance recommendations too."
But in the short term, securities firms are still unlikely to dislodge banks' dominant position in insurance agency sales.
After all, banks’ vast branch networks and depositor bases are out of reach for securities firms, and in terms of sales compliance, securities firms also face severe challenges.
Long Ge said that securities firms, in the course of selling insurance, may package insurance as “high-yield wealth management,” conceal the uncertainty of dividends, or ignore the protection essence.
Under performance pressure, such distorted sales practices may become more prevalent.
Regulators have strengthened supervision on this. For example, the “Measures for Suitability Management of Financial Institution Products” to be implemented in 2026 requires unified suitability management across sectors in sales.
Long Ge emphasized that differences in service processes between securities firms and insurance (such as claims responsibility, boundaries between investment and insurance advisors) still require more detailed collaboration mechanisms.
“Currently, gray areas concentrate on cross-channel mutual recognition of client risk assessments, division of online and offline service responsibilities, etc. If poorly handled, these gray areas could become major sources of future customer complaints,” Long Ge said.
For securities firm advisors, the pile of insurance plan booklets on their desks is both a hope for transformation and a new test in their career.
In the wave of financial sector integration, whether securities firms can truly pivot from “selling products” to “selling services” may determine the outcome of this breakout battle.
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