New Leader's Debut! Zhang Daoming Outlines the Development Path of "Property and Casualty Insurance Leader" PICC Property and Casualty

Interface News reporter | Lü Wenqi

On March 27, People’s Insurance Company of China (Property and Casualty) (02328.HK) disclosed an announcement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange stating that, according to decisions made by the Party Committee of China’s People’s Insurance Group, Zhang Daoming, a member of the Group Party Committee, interim head and executive director, as well as vice president and chief financial officer of People’s Insurance Company of China (Property and Casualty), has been appointed as the Party Secretary of People’s Insurance Company of China (Property and Casualty). Under the corporate governance procedures, once the relevant appointment procedures are completed, Zhang Daoming will serve as the CEO of People’s Insurance Company of China (Property and Casualty).

At the China People’s Insurance Group performance meeting held on the same day, “the top insurance-for-casualty” newcomer’s leader Zhang Daoming made his first appearance in his new role.

Management of China’s People’s Insurance Group, with Zhang Daoming as the person on the far right.                                                                               Source: China’s People’s Insurance Group

The 2025 financial report released by People’s Insurance Company of China (Property and Casualty) shows that in 2025, original insurance premium income was RMB 555.77 billion, up 3.3% year over year, and the market share was 31.6%. Insurance service revenue reached RMB 511.59B, up 5.4% year over year. Underwriting profit was RMB 12.54B, up significantly by 119.4% year over year; net profit was RMB 40.38B, up 25.5% year over year.

Motor vehicle insurance is the core base business of People’s Insurance Company of China (Property and Casualty). In 2025, premium income for auto insurance exceeded RMB 300 billion, up 2.8% year over year. The comprehensive cost ratio for auto insurance fell by 1.5% year over year, while underwriting profit for auto insurance was RMB 14.3 billion, up sharply by 53.6% year over year.

At the performance meeting, Zhang Daoming introduced to media outlets including Interface News the 2025 auto insurance performance of People’s Insurance Company of China (Property and Casualty), which benefited from three initiatives: first, fully and firmly implement “the alignment of filing and payment” for auto insurance, take the lead in standardizing market order, and continuously enhance compliance-based operating capabilities; second, fully leverage risk identification and pricing advantages, strengthen channel layout and the building of the sales team, and continuously improve the ability to secure high-quality business; third, significantly improve service quality and efficiency, strengthen intelligent applications and cost control, and continuously improve claims service capability.

In the auto insurance business, new energy vehicle insurance has become “a battleground that every player must fight over.” In 2025, People’s Insurance Company of China (Property and Casualty)’s new energy vehicle insurance became a bright growth point: premium income rose 31.9% year over year to RMB 67.1 billion, with its share in auto insurance reaching 22.1%, up 4.9%.

Zhang Daoming said at the 2025 annual performance release meeting of China’s People’s Insurance that, as the penetration rate of new energy vehicles increases rapidly, in 2025 the share of new energy vehicle underwriting volume in the industry’s auto insurance has already reached 12.75%, which has a crucial impact on the profitability of auto insurance.

He believes that overall, new energy vehicle insurance faces three major challenges: first, new energy vehicles have a higher incident rate, significantly higher than that of fuel vehicles; second, there is a shortage of socialized repair channels, so vehicle repair costs are relatively higher; third, the proportion of personal injury cases and the compensation standards both show an upward trend, and the average claim payment per case is rising. All of these lead to new energy vehicle insurance facing claims payment pressure at a high level.

Zhang Daoming said that although it faces challenges, People’s Insurance has actively leveraged its advantages in areas such as data, pricing, channels, and costs, and has already built leading advantages in the new energy vehicle insurance sector.

He also pointed out that, currently, there are some positive factors in new energy vehicle insurance: first, due to multiple factors such as the increase in the proportion of older cars, improvements in driving-behavior habits, and advances in assisted driving technologies, the incident rate of new energy vehicles has shown a downward trend; second, based on data, the claims risk for trucks configured with an automatic emergency braking system (AEB) is 7% lower than that for trucks not configured with it, mainly reflected in the reduction in the average claim payment per case; third, the risk classification system for domestic new energy vehicle models is being prepared. The introduction of the classification system will inevitably encourage automakers to pay more attention to and continuously improve the safety of vehicle models and the economic efficiency of repairs, thereby ultimately reducing vehicle repair costs and benefiting consumers of new energy vehicles.

“From the perspective of the expense ratio, in 2026, regulation will further consolidate the alignment of filing and payment, strengthen the three mechanisms, crack down on noncompliant behavior, and standardize market order. The expense ratio will remain stable and improve.” Zhang Daoming said. Taken together, it is expected that in 2026 the comprehensive cost ratio for new energy vehicle insurance will further improve, and the profitability level will further increase.

As for non-auto insurance, which is the new growth curve for the property and casualty insurance industry, in 2025 the premium income of People’s Insurance Company of China (Property and Casualty) for non-auto insurance grew 3.9% year over year; its business share has risen to 45%, up 0.3 percentage points year over year.

At the performance meeting, Zhang Daoming introduced to media outlets including Interface News that non-auto insurance in the industry has, for many years, been loss-making, and the issue of “competitive involution” is prominent in some segments. To promote high-quality development of the non-auto insurance business, in October 2025, the National Financial Regulatory Administration issued the 《Notice of the National Financial Regulatory Administration on Relevant Matters Concerning Strengthening Supervision of Non-Auto Insurance Business》, officially launching the industry’s non-auto insurance “comprehensive remediation” work. As various regulatory measures are implemented, the industry’s non-auto insurance profitability is expected to gradually recover and move into a profitable cycle.

Zhang Daoming predicted that in 2026, the results of the comprehensive remediation of non-auto insurance will first be reflected in the combined expense ratios of insurance lines such as enterprise property insurance, employer’s liability insurance, and safety-related liability insurance. The combined expense ratios of the above lines are expected to fall by at least two percentage points year over year.

Looking ahead to 2026, Zhang Daoming said that it is expected that People’s Insurance Company of China (Property and Casualty)’s auto insurance development in 2026 will grow in step with the market, with incremental new energy vehicle insurance business driven by high-quality development. Personal non-auto insurance will maintain premium growth rates of more than two digits; corporate business growth will be comparable to GDP growth; policy-based insurance will keep its share and scale stable; and overall premium growth will be basically synchronized with GDP growth. The focus will be on health insurance, family insurance, and culture and tourism insurance, to accelerate the drawing of a second growth curve for personal non-auto insurance.