The insurance member companies of CITIC Financial Holding have completed the handover of the new and old general managers.
Recently, CITIC Prudential Life announced that with the approval of the fifth on-site board meeting of the eighth session of CITIC Prudential Life, Zhao Xiaofan will no longer serve as the general manager of CITIC Prudential Life because he has reached the statutory retirement age, and Chang Ge will serve as the interim head of CITIC Prudential Life, effective from April 18, 2024. At present, Chang Ge has served as the Secretary of the Party Committee of CITIC Prudential Life.
Chang Ge succeeded Zhao Xiaofan
According to his resume, Chang Ge is a senior economist and a doctor of finance. His work experience is mainly divided into two sections: Agricultural Bank of China and CITIC. Specifically:
From July 2002 to 2014, he worked in the Agricultural Bank of China, successively serving as the deputy chief staff member of the General Division, the chief staff member of the Marketing Department, the chief staff member of the General Affairs Department, the deputy director of the General Management Division of the Personal Business Department, and the deputy director and director of the General Management Division of the Personal Finance Department.
He joined China CITIC Bank in August 2014 and has served as Deputy General Manager and General Manager of the Retail Banking Department, General Manager of the Private Banking Department, Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Shijiazhuang Branch, General Manager of the Corporate Banking Department (Rural Revitalization Department) and General Manager of the Strategic Customer Department.
In January 2022, he was transferred to CITIC Financial Holdings Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "CITIC Financial Holdings"), and successively served as Deputy General Manager (in charge of work) and General Manager of the Wealth Management Department of CITIC Financial Holdings, and from April 2023 to March 2024, he served as the General Manager of the Wealth Management Department of CITIC Financial Holdings, and the Executive Director and General Manager of CITIC Technology Development Co., Ltd.
In March 2024, he was transferred to the post of Secretary of the Party Committee of CITIC Prudential Life Insurance, and since April 2024, he has served as the interim head and Secretary of the Party Committee of CITIC Prudential Life Insurance.
Zhao Xiaofan, who retired as general manager, was born in March 1964 and has served as the general manager of CITIC Prudential Life Insurance (formerly known as Prudential Life Insurance) for 11 years. According to the information on the official website of CITIC Prudential Life, Zhao Xiaofan has not stepped down as an executive director of CITIC Prudential Life, and is still the executive director, vice chairman and general manager of CITIC Prudential Asset Management, an asset management company under CITIC Prudential Life.
The official website of CITIC Prudential Life Insurance has not yet announced the chairman of the board. In June 2023, the company announced the resignation of its chairman, and the board of directors received the resignation of Nicolaos Andreas Nicandrou. Nicolaos Andreas Nicandrou resigned as chairman of the board of directors of the company for personal reasons, effective May 25, 2023.
On April 19, the company's official website announced the resolution of the first shareholders' meeting in 2024, showing that it has deliberated and approved the nomination of Zhang Jian, Cunqiang Li (Li Cunqiang), and Ben CHAN Wei Beng (Chen Weimin) as directors of the eighth board of directors. The nomination of directors shall take effect after the approval of the qualifications of the State Administration of Financial Regulation.
It has just been approved for the largest capital increase since its establishment
Founded in 2000 by CITIC Group and Prudential Group of the United Kingdom, CITIC Prudential Life Insurance, formerly known as CITIC Life Insurance, is the first Sino-British joint venture insurance company in mainland China. In October 2017, in order to make full use of the brand advantages of the two major shareholders, Prudential Life Insurance officially changed its name to CITIC Prudential Life Insurance.
At the beginning of its establishment, CITIC Prudential Life Insurance was headquartered in Guangzhou, and in 2011, its headquarters was relocated to Beijing, and now has 23 provincial branches and life insurance business in 102 cities across the country. CITIC Prudential Life has an insurance asset management license, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, CITIC Prudential Asset Management, was established in March 2020.
The company is now a member of CITIC Financial Holdings. In November 2022, the former China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) approved the transfer of CITIC Prudential Life Limited's 50% stake in CITIC Prudential Life Insurance Company to CITIC Financial Holdings Limited. After the completion of the equity change, CITIC Financial Holding holds 50% of the company's equity. On March 30, 2023, CITIC Prudential Life Insurance completed the registration of change of shareholders with the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation.
As of the end of 2023, CITIC Prudential Life has total assets of nearly 240 billion yuan, making it one of the few foreign insurance companies with total assets of 100 billion yuan. In 2023, the company achieved insurance business revenue of 31.58 billion yuan.
As a long-established life insurance company with foreign-funded attributes, CITIC Prudential Life has been operating relatively steadily for many years, but in 2023, there will be losses that have not been seen for many years. According to the preliminary data of the solvency report, in 2023, CITIC Prudential Life will have a net loss of 830 million yuan, after the company has been profitable for more than ten consecutive years.
People close to CITIC Prudential Life said that the company's losses last year may be mainly due to investment pressure. According to the solvency report, in 2023, CITIC Prudential Life's investment return rate will be 1.69% and its comprehensive investment return will be 2.88%, both lower than the industry average. In the past three years, the company's average investment return rate and average comprehensive investment return rate were 4.71% and 4.85% respectively.
As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, the company's core and comprehensive solvency adequacy ratios were 94.04% and 187.88%, respectively.
In February this year, CITIC Prudential Life Insurance was approved to increase its registered capital, which was changed from 2.36 billion yuan to 4.86 billion yuan. This is also the largest capital increase since the company's establishment. After the capital increase, CITIC Financial Holding and Prudential will each hold 50% of the shares.
Hong Kong-listed Prudential (2378.HK) HK) said the capital increase highlights the mutual optimism of CITIC Prudential Life shareholders on the long-term development prospects of the life insurance business in Chinese mainland, as well as their strong and sustained commitment to CITIC Prudential Life. Prudential said the group is building a platform for sustainable growth by targeting investments in structural growth markets. CITIC Prudential Life is an important part of the Group's overall strategy and growth, and Prudential will continue to focus on implementing a customer-oriented multi-channel distribution strategy in Chinese mainland.
At the 2024 work conference of CITIC Financial Holding held in January, Xi Guohua, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of CITIC Group, and Chairman of CITIC Financial Holdings, mentioned that it is necessary to focus on enhancing market influence, strengthening subdivisions, and releasing comprehensive potential. Promote the dislocation development of each subsidiary, complement each other's advantages, and perform their duties and show their strengths in serving the real economy. It will effectively promote the transformation and development of trust, insurance, consumer finance and other businesses.
CITIC Financial Holding is one of the first financial holding companies to be licensed by the central bank, and was established in March 2022 as a new financial holding company within CITIC Group. According to the official website of CITIC Financial Holdings, as the platform and main body for the development of CITIC Group's comprehensive financial services sector, it will support financial institutions such as CITIC Bank, CITIC Securities, CITIC Trust, and CITIC Prudential Life Insurance to build three core competencies of "wealth management, asset management, and comprehensive financing", and provide customers with products and services in banking, securities, trust, insurance, asset management, funds, futures, financial leasing, consumer finance, etc., so as to meet the comprehensive financial needs of customers in an all-round way.
Editor-in-charge: Gui Yanmin
Proofreader: Yao Yuan