Cao Deyun: Insurance Asset Management Industry Faces Strategic Opportunities and Low-Rate Challenges in the 15th Five-Year Plan Period

On September 10, at the "2026 Financial Institutions Annual Conference and Insurance Industry Asset-Liability Management Annual Conference" hosted by Securities Times, Cao Deyun, former head of the Insurance Asset Management Association of China, delivered a keynote speech on the reform and development outlook of the insurance asset management industry.

Cao Deyun stated that as a key participant in the real economy and an important institutional investor in the capital market, the insurance asset management industry—characterized by large capital volumes, long investment horizons, and stable funding sources—provides scarce long-term capital and patient capital for economic and social development, the implementation of major national strategies, and the construction of livelihood security.

He emphasized that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the industry must deeply consider and actively practice how to grasp new requirements for financial reform, identify new industry positioning, address development pain points, forge new reform pathways, and further promote high-quality development of insurance asset management.

New Requirements and Four Major New Missions

Cao Deyun noted that the "15th Five-Year Plan" period is a critical five years for China to accelerate the development of new productive forces, promote high-quality development, and build a financial powerhouse. The series of deployments in the "15th Five-Year Plan" outline have set new development coordinates for the entire financial industry, including insurance asset management.

From the perspective of the overall "15th Five-Year Plan," Cao Deyun stated that the insurance asset management industry faces new positioning and new missions entrusted by the times:

1. Serve as patient capital for implementing national strategies. The industry should closely align with national strategic needs, using equity, debt, funds, and asset management products to precisely invest in key national areas such as technological innovation, green development, and emerging industries. It should accompany industries through economic cycles, support the industrialization of technological achievements, provide stable capital supply for the development of new productive forces, and effectively transform capital advantages into national industrial development advantages.

1. Act as mature institutional investors for the healthy and stable operation of the capital market. Insurance asset management should adhere to value investing, long-term investing, prudent investing, and responsible investing, playing a stabilizing role in the market. It should not only use equity investment tools to share in the dividends of new economic growth but also guide stable market operations through rational investment, assume responsibility for capital market development, improve the investor structure, and help build a standardized, transparent, open, vibrant, resilient, and attractive high-quality capital market.

1. Serve as the core supporting force for the high-quality development of the insurance主业. As one of the two driving wheels for the high-quality development of the insurance industry, the primary task of insurance asset management is to manage asset-liability matching, safeguard the security of insurance funds, achieve stable appreciation of insurance assets, support the insurance protection function, and protect the interests of policyholders. This is the foundation of the industry's survival.

1. Act as a key defense line for coordinating development and security while preventing cross-market financial risks. This ensures the stable and safe operation of the insurance market system and even the broader financial market system.

Insurance Asset Management Ushers in a Strategic Opportunity Period

Cao Deyun stated that the new requirements and new missions during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period not only set higher standards for insurance asset management but also open up unprecedented development space. The industry will face strategic opportunities across multiple areas, including policy, market, and industry.

• Continued release of policy dividends and optimization of the institutional environment. Regarding the entry of medium- and long-term funds into the market, regulators are continuously optimizing investment supervision rules for insurance funds, adjusting equity investment ratio limits, improving long-term investment pilot mechanisms, implementing long-cycle performance assessments, and removing constraints on insurance funds' long-term equity investments and venture capital investments. These improvements provide institutional guarantees for insurance asset management to carry out innovative businesses.

• Development of new productive forces brings more high-quality long-term asset supply. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, China will vigorously cultivate emerging pillar industries and proactively lay out future industries. Technology industries generally require long R&D cycles and large investments, which precisely need large-scale long-term capital—a characteristic highly aligned with insurance funds. This provides insurance asset management with numerous investment targets with long-term growth potential and value appreciation. Meanwhile, the continued promotion of green and low-carbon transformation, new infrastructure construction, and urban renewal actions, along with the ongoing implementation of green energy, new computing power networks, and livelihood security projects, will generate long-duration stable cash flow assets, alleviating the industry's long-standing shortage of high-quality asset supply.

• Construction of a multi-tiered elderly care security system expands the market space for insurance asset management. Against the backdrop of an aging population, the accelerated development of the third-pillar pension insurance and pension funds...

• Reshaping of the large asset management industry landscape and accelerated evolution of industry specialization. After the new asset management regulations, the industry has returned to its roots. Insurance asset management institutions, after years of accumulation, have deep experience and competitive advantages in fixed-income investment, equity investment, alternative investment, product creation, and cross-cycle allocation. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, differentiated competition, specialized development, and distinctive operations will become mainstream in the large asset management market. Insurance asset management can leverage its expertise to form irreplaceable core advantages.

• Expansion of high-level opening-up broadens global allocation opportunities and space. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, China will steadily promote two-way financial opening-up, enriching the tools and channels for cross-border investment of insurance funds. This will help insurance asset management diversify risks globally, optimize investment portfolios, and improve investment returns. At the same time, it can learn from international advanced asset management experience, which in turn can enhance domestic asset management capabilities and promote high-quality and sustainable development.

At the same time, Cao Deyun emphasized that the industry will also face challenges in the coming years, such as persistently low interest rates and greater difficulty in asset allocation. This requires the industry to proactively recognize, adapt to, and drive change, and to respond actively and prudently.

Focusing on New Breakthroughs in Reform and Development

The "15th Five-Year Plan" period is both a strategic opportunity period for the insurance asset management industry to achieve great things and a period of reform and攻坚. Cao Deyun proposed that the industry should focus on multiple dimensions—including institutional mechanisms, capacity building, corporate governance, and industry ecology—to achieve systematic reform breakthroughs and high-quality development.

1. New breakthroughs in institutional mechanism reform: Build governance mechanisms and management systems that are compatible with long-term funds.
2. New breakthroughs in capacity building reform: Strengthen five core professional capabilities: large-scale asset allocation, industry research, risk management, digitalization, and talent team building.
3. New breakthroughs in business model reform: Adhere to integrity and innovation, promoting the coordinated development of core business and third-party business.
4. New breakthroughs in risk prevention and control reform: Build a full-chain risk prevention and control system.
5. New breakthroughs in industry ecology reform: Promote differentiated development and healthy competition.

He stated that the insurance asset management industry should continue to push for breaking away from short-term performance orientation and fully implement long-cycle performance assessment mechanisms. It should establish an indicator system, cultural philosophy, and code of conduct centered on long-term goals, incorporating the specific results of serving national strategies and economic and social development, the degree of fulfilling social responsibilities, and public satisfaction into the evaluation and target system. This will drive insurance asset management to integrate into the long-term process of national development in terms of thinking, philosophy, and action.

At the same time, he mentioned optimizing the corporate governance of insurance asset management companies and clarifying the rights and responsibilities of clients, trustees, custodians, and related entities. On one hand, synergy, integration, and linkage should be enhanced; on the other hand, market-oriented and professional principles should be fully reflected, granting asset management institutions professional autonomy in investment decisions, improving fault-tolerance and error-correction mechanisms, encouraging genuine long-term investment and value investing, and strengthening the professional, standardized, and sustainable development of insurance asset management.

Regarding promoting differentiated development and healthy competition, Cao Deyun stated that various types of insurance asset management institutions should be guided to identify their own positioning, with large institutions building comprehensive capabilities...

In addition, he said that exchanges and collaboration within the industry should be further strengthened. Industry organizations should promote the construction of data information sharing platforms and industry research sharing platforms, and work together to cultivate an industry culture of patient capital, creating favorable conditions for improving the overall level and comprehensive strength of the insurance asset management industry.

(Source: Securities China)