At the end of the year, following the new Chairman, CHINA TAIPING (0966.HK) has welcomed a new General Manager at the beginning of 2025.

On January 4, TAIPING held a干部 meeting, announcing that the top-ranking Vice General Manager Li Kedong is proposed to take over as General Manager, continuing to partner with former General Manager Yin Zhaojun who has been promoted to Chairman.

Pending approval of the qualifications, Li Kedong will become the first General Manager promoted from within since TAIPING upgraded to a vice ministerial central enterprise in 2012.

The "Yin-Li partnership" will also be the first completely internally selected leadership combination at TAIPING in nearly 12 years.

Compared to bringing in external minds, selecting a management team from within is more conducive to the stability of the enterprise's Global Strategy and can reduce the adjustment time after the change; the fact that both the Chairman and General Manager are promoted internally somewhat demonstrates the completeness of TAIPING's talent pipeline.

Li Kedong has a rich professional background, having worked in two major central enterprises: Export Credit Insurance and TAIPING.

Li Kedong, 57 years old, was previously an "engineering student", graduated from the Department of Power Engineering at Peking University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and served as the director of the General Office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

In 2007, Li Kedong was appointed general manager of the Guangdong branch of Export Credit Insurance, later transferred to the Shanghai branch; after entering headquarters, he successively served as general manager of the Human Resources Department, Project Insurance Management Department/National Project Division, Product Management Department, Customer Management, and Market Development Department.

At the end of 2019, he joined CHINA TAIPING and successively served as Chairman of Technology and Deputy General Manager of the Group.

The official website shows that Li Kedong was previously the top-ranking deputy general manager of CHINA TAIPING and concurrently served as chairman of CHINA TAIPING Capital, CHINA TAIPING Industrial Investment, and CHINA TAIPING Financial Holdings.

In the first half of 2024, CHINA TAIPING's insurance service revenue and net profit were 1.64 trillion HKD and 6.03 billion HKD, respectively, with year-on-year growth rates of 3.2% and 15.4%; net investment income increased to 7.5 billion HKD, a growth rate as high as 360.7%.

While the performance is stable, there is still deepening of the 'Internationalization Restart' strategy.

In 2019, CHINA TAIPING re-emphasized the internationalization strategy, proposing four phases of empowering enhancement, steady growth, global operation, and international leadership, aiming to build a globally competitive international modern financial insurance group between 2031 and 2035.

From the perspective of the planned timeline, it is currently in the 'steady growth' phase.

Within 2024, CHINA TAIPING has cooperated with the Belgian FUGUE Group in the retirement field, with two overseas institutions officially opened in Luxembourg and Dubai.

Previously, Li Kedong stated that the insurance market in ASEAN countries has tremendous development potential.

Li Kedong believes that Chinese insurance companies should accelerate the expansion into the ASEAN market, actively innovate insurance product services, participate in cross-border infrastructure construction, promote technological capabilities and digital level construction, and serve the economic and social stability of ASEAN countries.