China's Top Life Insurers See Agent Headcount Stabilize in Q2

China's top listed life insurers saw a slight rebound in agent headcount at the end of the second quarter, according to Jiemian News. China Life, New China Life, Ping An Life, CPIC Life and PICC Life had 1,372,799 individual agents at the end of June, up 2,755 from the end of the first quarter. China Life added 12,441 agents to 657,193, while CPIC Life's agent count was unchanged at 190,000. Ping An Life had 325,000 agents at the end of June, down 26,000 from the end of 2025, but more than 60% of its new hires had junior college degrees or above. Jiemian News also cited incomplete statistics showing that 57 life insurers that disclosed data had 2.091 million individual agents at the end of the second quarter, down 35,000 from the previous quarter. The six largest life insurers — China Life, Ping An Life, Taikang Life, CPIC Life, Taiping Life and New China Life — accounted for about 1.72 million agents, or 82.35% of the disclosed total, with China Life alone accounting for 31.4%. The article said the industry remains in contraction, but the pace of decline has slowed after earlier quarterly drops of several hundred thousand. It added that China's National Financial Regulatory Administration issued a notice in April 2025 on deepening reform of the individual sales system in the life insurance industry, introducing deferred commission payments to encourage longer retention and a more professional agent model.