Jinwu Financial News | BOCOM INTL stated that the total life insurance premium of five listed insurance companies from January to November 2024 increased by 5.3% year-on-year, with a slowdown of 0.2 percentage points compared to January to October, mainly due to the reduction of the preset interest rate and the release of demand in advance. Benefiting from the rebound in new car sales growth, the growth of P&C premium has remained stable. From January to November 2024, the P&C premiums of PICC, Ping An, and Taiping grew by 5.1%, 6.8%, and 7.0% year-on-year, respectively. Zhong An's premium growth continued to show an upward trend since July.

The bank pointed out that the asset and liability sides of the life insurance industry both performed strongly in 2024. It is anticipated that in 2025, since both asset and liability sides will face a high base, profit and new business value growth will face certain pressures. In the short term, the downward trend of long-term bond yields has heightened market concerns about the risks of industry spread loss.

However, the bank believes that the life insurance industry still has defensive and elastic qualities at the current valuation levels. As the sales focus of industry products shifts towards participating insurance, there remains room for a decline in the cost of liabilities; recently, the Central Political Bureau and Central Economic Work Conference proposed to implement more proactive fiscal policies and moderately accommodative monetary policies, which are beneficial for promoting improvements on the asset side. It is recommended to pay attention to high-dividend symbols within the sector, maintaining Buy ratings for Ping An (02318), Taiping (02601), and PICC P&C (02328).