CITIC Securities: China’s Insurance Sector Shows Improving Fundamentals Despite Low Valuations

A research note from CITIC Securities said China’s insurance sector is showing a mismatch between improving fundamentals and depressed valuations, highlighting allocation value, according to 36Kr. The note said demand for savings-type insurance has risen amid weaker real-estate wealth effects, the shift to net-asset-value wealth management under new asset-management rules, and a low interest-rate environment; it added that new policy premiums at five listed insurers rose 15% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026. It also cited product mix optimization, earlier cuts in assumed interest rates, and the implementation of “Document No. 65” as factors improving liability costs and business quality. On the asset side, the note said earnings recovery has higher certainty, pointing to the CSI 300 Index’s gains since April and insurers’ earlier increases in equity allocation, and said interim reports could be a catalyst for valuation repricing. It added that valuations remain low, with several listed insurers’ PEV multiples below the 20th percentile of the past three and five years.