Live | Ping An of China: Core Investment Strategy for 2026 and the "Service Ambition" for the Next Five Years

Ask AI · How does Ping An’s investment strategy navigate economic cycle fluctuations?

In a macro environment that is complex and ever-changing, with capital markets full of uncertainties, Ping An of China — this insurance giant with total assets exceeding 13 trillion yuan — has delivered a “comprehensive improvement” report card.

Data shows that in 2025, Ping An’s operating profit attributable to shareholders grew by 10.3% year-on-year, reaching 134.415 billion yuan; the net profit attributable to shareholders after deducting non-recurring items increased by 22.5%; new business value surged by 29.3%, achieving double-digit growth for three consecutive years. Even more noteworthy is that its total cash dividends reached 48.891 billion yuan, marking a rise for 14 consecutive years.

This performance serves as a concentrated test of its “comprehensive finance + medical and elderly care” strategy’s depth and resilience. On March 27, in Shanghai, during the performance release conference, several key phrases frequently mentioned by the management — high-value growth, service innovation, technology-driven — outline the core logic that allows this financial giant to navigate through cycles.

The “gold content” of performance lies in its structure

“If I were to summarize this performance with a few key phrases, they would be comprehensive improvement, high-value growth, strategic deepening, and service innovation,” said Fu Xin, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Ping An, at the conference.

Behind the financial data, Ping An’s management seems more focused on the “value” of its results. As a core metric for measuring the quality of life insurance business, the new business value rate has reached 28.5%, an increase of 5.8 percentage points year-on-year. This indicates that Ping An is not merely pursuing scale expansion but is “engaging in quality business.”

The results of Ping An’s life insurance reform are becoming evident. Amid the continuous iteration of agents, the per capita new business value grew by 17.2% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the bancassurance channel achieved a leap in growth, with new business value soaring by 138% year-on-year, becoming a new growth driver.

“We have a balanced channel structure. Ping An has established a diversified channel system that includes agents, bancassurance, and community finance, allowing us to seize new market opportunities whenever they arise, resulting in waves of growth,” emphasized Co-CEO Guo Xiaotao.

The core investment philosophy: finding certainty in uncertainty

Since 2026, global capital market volatility has intensified, and geopolitical risks have become frequent. As a “patient capital” holding nearly 6.5 trillion yuan in investable assets, Ping An’s investment strategy has garnered significant market attention.

In response to questions about stock price fluctuations, Guo Xiaotao provided a clear answer: “Short-term volatility is not important to us; what matters more is how we can navigate through cycles to provide long-term, stable, and sustainable returns for our customers and shareholders.”

He elaborated on Ping An’s “five matching” principles — duration matching, cost matching, product matching, economic cycle matching, and regulatory requirement matching. Specifically, Ping An’s core strategy this year is to “find certainty in uncertainty.”

This “certainty” is reflected in its comprehensive alignment with the national economic development direction. New productive forces, infrastructure, healthcare and elderly care, and a strong financial nation… these keywords in the 14th Five-Year Plan represent important directions for Ping An’s asset allocation.

Fu Xin revealed Ping An’s “safety cushion” from an accounting classification perspective: among 1.28 trillion yuan in equity assets, 57% are stocks classified as “other comprehensive income,” which already show over 90 billion yuan in unrealized gains that haven’t entered the current profits but have significantly bolstered net assets. “This is our high dividend, low volatility ‘ballast’,” Fu Xin said.

“Technology-driven” has become one of the core strategic orientations

If steady investment is Ping An’s “ballast,” then technology is becoming its “accelerator” for improving efficiency and reshaping customer experience.

Guo Xiaotao revealed in response to AI applications that in 2026, “technology-driven” has become one of the core strategic orientations in Ping An’s 16-character business guideline. The biggest move this year is undoubtedly the “Comprehensive Finance · Nine Returns to One” project — integrating several apps under the group into a single unified entry point.

“Previously, the customers of these apps were not integrated, the customer experience was not integrated, and the traffic was not integrated,” Guo Xiaotao admitted. After integration, Ping An now has 700 million registered internet users, with over 90 million monthly active users, a leading position in the financial industry.

More importantly, the application of AI has transitioned from “assistance” to “intelligent agent.” At the new entry point, customers can achieve “one-sentence service” — whether for claims, consultations, loans, or global urgent rescues, just one sentence is needed for the AI assistant to complete all operations.

This technological investment not only enhances the experience but also leads to substantial cost savings. For instance, in card issuance, the cost of issuing credit cards through its own online channels saves over 50% compared to external public domains.

The “ambition” of service: building a differentiated competitive moat

2026 is Ping An’s “service innovation year.” The term “service” was mentioned multiple times during the performance release conference.

“In an era where the financial market is entering homogenization and intensified competition, our goal is to create a differentiated competitive advantage through a ‘finance + service’ system,” Guo Xiaotao said.

This service upgrade is most intuitively reflected in the global urgent rescue system. Whether it’s an empty-nester who falls indoors or a student studying abroad who encounters an accident, Ping An’s rescue network covers “anything, anywhere, anytime.” Last year, in Aksu, Xinjiang, Yellowstone National Park in the U.S., and even conflict zones in the Middle East, Ping An successfully executed rescue cases that involved moving ICUs onto helicopters and safely transferring customers.

This service capability is being transformed into tangible commercial value. Data shows that the coverage rate of clients using medical and elderly care services increased by 4 percentage points; clients enjoying home elderly care benefits saw their life insurance new individual policies increase to 5.2 times that of ordinary clients; for high-quality elderly care clients, this figure reached 23.4 times.

“Service is not just a social responsibility; it is also our second growth curve to leverage financial core business growth,” Fu Xin concluded.

The new direction of the 14th Five-Year Plan: investing in material and more in people

In light of the new opportunities brought by the 14th Five-Year Plan, Ping An’s General Manager and Co-CEO Xie Yonglin has profound reflections. He stated that the 14th Five-Year Plan has, for the first time, included “accelerating the construction of a strong financial nation” in the national five-year planning outline, and in this context, Ping An has proposed a new approach that closely integrates “investment in material” and “investment in people.”

“This is highly aligned with Ping An’s comprehensive finance + medical and elderly care strategy,” Xie Yonglin said.

In terms of “investment in material,” Ping An continues to uphold the banner of serving the real economy, utilizing investment banking, commercial banking, and various investment methods, with a total balance nearing 10 trillion yuan. In terms of “investment in people,” Ping An practices a “people-centered” development philosophy through its healthcare and elderly care ecosystem.

From the integration of Peking University Health Group to the nationwide network of partner hospitals, and to the coverage of home elderly care services, Ping An is building a service network that spans the entire life cycle.

Xie Yonglin stated that 2026 is the starting year of the 14th Five-Year Plan, and Ping An’s strategy is correct; as long as it consistently deepens its strategy and executes well, it will surely achieve greater accomplishments.

Whether it is the 14 consecutive years of rising dividends, the investment philosophy that navigates through cycles, or the dual-driven strategy of technology and service deepening, Ping An is attempting to convey a message to the market: it is no longer just an insurance company, but a “comprehensive finance + medical and elderly care” service group that can provide customers with full life-cycle, all-round solutions.

For investors, Ping An’s report may provide an answer: in an era filled with uncertainties, true “certainty” comes from steady management, forward-looking strategies, and an extreme pursuit of “service.” As the management stated, “Gold always shines,” and Ping An is waiting for more investors to understand its value.