Less than 500,000 to over 5 million: The income gap between insurance company executives and directors exceeds 10 times

The legend of the “ten-million-yuan annual salary” is fading, revealing stark disparities in reality. According to incomplete statistics from Beijing Business Daily, as of February 23, a total of 113 insurance companies disclosed executive compensation in their Q4 2025 solvency reports. Despite an overall positive performance trend, executive salaries in insurance firms have not risen as dramatically as expected. Data shows that the number of companies with executives earning over 5 million yuan annually decreased from five in 2024 to four in 2025. There are significant salary gaps among different insurers, with the highest exceeding 5 million yuan and the lowest less than 500,000 yuan—more than a tenfold difference. The once-hot topic of “ten-million-yuan annual salaries” is now hard to find.

Data released by the Financial Regulatory Administration before the holiday shows that in 2025, insurance companies’ gross premium income reached 6.1 trillion yuan, a 7.4% increase year-on-year; new policies totaled 116.8 billion, up 12.6%. Additionally, benefiting from policies like “reporting and operating as one” and a bullish capital market, the industry’s operational performance has been commendable. Among non-listed insurers that have published data, about 90% are profitable.

However, despite the overall positive performance, executive compensation in insurance firms has continued a decline seen over the past two years. According to Beijing Business Daily, in the same period in 2023, ten insurance companies had executives earning over 5 million yuan annually; by 2024, this number dropped to five, and in 2025, it further decreased to four, including companies like China United Tai Metropolitan Life, Zhonghong Life, and AIA Insurance. Most other insurers’ top executive salaries range from 1 million to 5 million yuan, though some pay less than 500,000 yuan.

Looking further back, the “ten-million-yuan annual salary” was once a hot industry topic. In 2022, a director at United Life Insurance earned a pre-tax salary of 9.5385 million yuan, approaching the 10-million mark. Beijing Business Daily’s research found that executive compensation does not clearly correlate with a company’s profitability. Many insurers do not have performance-based reward plans, and some profitable insurers with high executive pay are not among the largest in premium or scale.

So, what factors influence executive compensation in insurance firms? Industry insiders told Beijing Business Daily that when determining executive pay, companies consider performance within their responsibilities, contributions to the company, and personal capability development. Some companies’ compensation systems may be influenced by historical factors, exhibiting inertia; even if company performance changes, their pay structures may be slow to adjust.

From a policy perspective, the Ministry of Finance issued a notice in 2022 titled “Notice on Further Strengthening Financial Management of State-Owned Financial Enterprises,” which emphasizes reasonable control of pay grades, motivating frontline and grassroots employees, and balancing income distribution among leadership, middle management, and staff. This has strengthened regulation over executive compensation in the financial industry.

Although the compensation of executives in non-listed insurers is less directly related to their profitability or premium scale, certain patterns exist. Specifically, first, executive pay in life insurance companies generally exceeds that in property insurance companies; second, joint ventures and foreign-funded insurers tend to offer higher compensation. Among the companies with top executive salaries over 5 million yuan, three are life insurers and one is a property insurer, most of which are foreign or joint ventures. Additionally, some property insurers with “internet” or “tech” DNA, such as JD Allianz and Modern Insurance, also pay slightly higher salaries to executives, partly due to their “joint venture” background.

Wang Peng, deputy researcher at Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, noted that life insurance products have longer life cycles, more complex operations, and higher requirements for actuarial skills and asset-liability matching, leading to greater reliance on top-tier, versatile talent and higher premiums for such talent compared to more standardized, short-term property insurance companies. Joint ventures and foreign insurers often adopt global compensation standards, offering high cash and benefits to attract internationally minded executives, with less domestic salary regulation constraints. Insurers with internet DNA need to compete for cross-sector talent with tech giants, and their compensation structures include “talent premiums” to counter industry risks.

Beijing Business Daily reporter Li Xiumei

(Edited by: Wen Jing)

Keywords: Insurance companies