Sister Li, would you like to add a little more to the products we insured last month? Quick return products may face tight credit limits

On October 12, 2026, Ms. Li received the aforementioned phone call from the bank's customer manager. In the second half of this year, Ms. Li had a three-year fixed deposit of 200000 yuan due. Upon the recommendation of her account manager, she purchased a dividend insurance product with a 6-year insurance period. In the fourth year, the cash value exceeded the premium paid.

Nowadays, these products are facing rectification. The Economic Observer reporter learned that recently, multiple financial regulatory bureaus have required personal insurance companies to conduct inspections and rectification of "quick return" products. Among them, the Shanghai Financial Regulatory Bureau issued a notice to its personal insurance companies on conducting inspections and rectification of "fast return" products (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), requiring insurance companies not to report products with a cash value exceeding the paid premium at the end of the third policy year in principle. If there are similar problems with previously reported stock products, they should be voluntarily suspended from sale in principle. Although the company does not have products with a three-year term (cash value exceeding the premium paid) and there is no situation of rectification or suspension of sales, the scale of such products will be affected during the opening ceremony, "a branch manager of a large life insurance company told Economic Observer reporters.

Disturb the opening rhythm

In September 2023, Ms. Li processed a three-year fixed deposit of 200000 yuan with an interest rate of 3.5%. After the expiration, she received an interest income of 21000 yuan. In September of this year, the three-year fixed deposit interest rate dropped to 1.65%, which is half of the previous rate. At the suggestion of the account manager, Ms. Li began to pay attention to bank wealth management and insurance products, and ultimately chose an insurance product called Baoying Manxin Dual Life Insurance (dividend type).

According to the benefit demonstration table provided by Ms. Li, the payment method for this product is three years, and the insurance period is six years. In the fourth year after the end of payment, the cash value of the basic insurance amount can exceed the premium. Ms. Li chooses to pay an annual fee of 100000 yuan. Starting from the fourth year, the basic insurance amount can reach a cash value of 304600 yuan, and in the sixth year, when the product expires, it can reach 315060 yuan.

At that time, the bank's customer manager introduced that based on a 100% dividend realization rate, Ms. Li would pay for 3 years with a guarantee period of 8 years, and the expected annualized return rate could reach 2.3% to 2.5%. Taking into account the 5-year renewal of fixed deposits, the comprehensive return rate could reach about 2.7%, significantly higher than the bank's fixed deposit interest rate for the same period (1.55% to 1.65%).

Ms. Li was somewhat tempted by the customer manager's suggestion to add insurance. This type of product is similar to bank deposits, with a shorter term and a competitive final yield compared to deposits, "she said. The news of tightening of "fast return" products first disturbed not insurance consumers, but insurance product providers.

The management personnel of the branch of the above-mentioned large life insurance company stated that after the news of the investigation and rectification is released, the "good start" transaction rhythm of the bank insurance channel products will be affected, mainly due to the possible compression of the scale.

For salespeople, insurance products with a 3-year payment and a 6-year maturity are more like deposit products, with simple product introductions and easier acceptance by consumers during sales. For customers in the bancassurance channel, this type of product is a replacement product for previously higher interest deposit products that expire.

There are three main sources of profit for insurance companies - dead end margin, premium margin, and interest rate spread. Simply put, if an insurance company can achieve "actual payout less than expected", "cost savings than planned", and "investment returns higher than promised", it can make money. Fast return products have a short term and no guarantee responsibility. They are sold through banks with high transaction fees, making it difficult to earn the "dead end" and "fee difference" parts.

From the perspective of interest rate spreads, insurance companies rely on "long money, long investment" to make money. As the debt side has a short term, the asset side can only allocate products with short duration. At the same time, in the downward trend of interest rates, interest rate spreads are difficult to contribute value. Once such products are concentrated and mature, in the event of rising interest rates or a downturn in the capital market, existing policy cancellations and new policy premium income may decrease, which can easily pose a risk of insufficient cash flow for insurance companies.

Continuous Standardization

It is worth noting that the Notice also leaves room for certain insurance companies.

According to the Notice, companies with liquidity difficulties should comprehensively assess their liquidity gap, develop proper cleaning and standardization plans, and communicate with regulatory authorities. Following the principle of "quantity as input", they should strictly control their business scale and set a deadline for product suspension and rectification.

This differentiation policy is very necessary. Our personal insurance channel has not made much contribution, mainly relying on the bank insurance channel. The fast return product of 'three insurances and six insurances' has been the core driving force for the company's scale expansion and successful start in the past few years. "A practitioner from a small and medium-sized life insurance company said that now new product reporting is not only blocked, but stock is also suspended from sale, which puts a lot of pressure.

According to the Economic Observer, nearly 20 life insurance companies have failed to disclose their solvency reports on time.

This is not the first time that regulatory authorities have taken action against such products.

In March 2016, the former China Insurance Regulatory Commission issued a notice on regulating matters related to short - and medium-term products, requiring the suspension of the sale of insurance products with a duration of less than one year. According to the notice, short-term survival products refer to personal insurance products in which the sum of the policy cash value (account value) and cumulative survival insurance benefits at the end of any policy year in the previous four policy years exceeds the cumulative premium paid, and it is expected that more than 60% of the policy duration of the product will be less than 5 years. The notice requires insurance companies to strictly control the scale of such products and link them with invested capital and net assets. At that time, the medium to short-term surviving products in the market were mainly universal insurance and investment linked insurance.

In 2019, due to the inability of some life insurance companies to make up for the gap in short - and medium-term business in their long-term operations, there were liquidity issues, and regulatory authorities conditionally opened up the 3-5 year dual life insurance policy. In May 2025, the Notice on Strengthening the Supervision of Universal Life Insurance was officially implemented. According to the notice, products other than life insurance, dual life insurance, and annuity insurance cannot be designed as universal. The insurance period of universal insurance shall not be less than five years.

Whether it is the universal insurance of the past or the current dividend insurance of "three insurances and six", their main sales channels are banks. This also means that competition in the banking and insurance channels has become more intense.

In the past few years, the bank insurance channel was mainly occupied by small and medium-sized insurance companies. Generally speaking, it is difficult for small and medium-sized insurance companies to establish their own agent sales teams, so the bank insurance channel has become a reliable channel. These products not only have short terms and high returns, but also make it easier to increase business scale and ensure the cash flow of insurance companies.

After the implementation of the "reporting bank integration" in the bancassurance channel, the value rate of the bancassurance channel has increased compared to the past, and the attitude of large life insurance companies towards the bancassurance channel has begun to change. In addition, as interest rates fall and a large number of high interest deposits mature, large insurance companies are beginning to focus on the bancassurance channel to attract customers to move their savings.

In the face of market competition, the "Notice" mentions that in order to further strengthen the main responsibility of insurance companies in product management, effectively transform their business philosophy, and prevent disorderly competition, insurance companies must strictly follow regulatory requirements, strengthen the authenticity management of actuarial assumptions such as product cost rate, surrender rate, and investment return rate, abandon scale impulse and scale orientation, and accelerate the transformation from pursuing speed and scale to focusing on value and efficiency.

In fact, strict supervision of the banking and insurance channels has been ongoing. In March 2026, the Personal Insurance Regulatory Department of the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration officially issued a notice on further strengthening the management of bank agency channel fees, and also issued a supporting Q&A on the management of bank agency channel fees (Part 1). This regulatory combination has brought the "integration of reporting and banking" reform of the banking and insurance channels into a refined and penetrating implementation stage.