Live Coverage of the Earnings Conference | China Reinsurance's General Manager Wang Zhongyao: The overall direct risk exposure in the Middle East is relatively low

Each Daily Reporter｜Yuan Yuan｜
Each Daily Editor｜Du Yu｜

On March 31, China Reinsurance held its 2025 annual results briefing. At the briefing, the company’s management responded to how the Middle East military conflict may impact its insurance business.

In 2025, China Reinsurance recorded combined gross premium income of RMB 180.37B, and combined insurance service revenue of RMB 103.09B; net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company was RMB 9.72B, up 38.4% year over year.

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It is understood that China Reinsurance’s overseas property reinsurance business mainly includes non-water risks, special risk insurance, liability insurance, and others, with its business mix mainly focused on short-tail business. In addition, China Reinsurance also directly controls the London Bridge Insurance Group through acquisition, and the company also contributes to China Reinsurance’s overseas business. Data show that in 2025, the Bridge Society achieved total gross premium income of RMB 8B, up 7.9%; insurance service revenue of RMB 24.02B, up 11.3%. The combined cost ratio was 78.52%, down 5.37 percentage points year over year. Return on economic capital was 18.1%.

It is also precisely because China Reinsurance’s business internationalization level is very high that the market is paying close attention to whether the Middle East military conflict will have an impact on its business. At the results briefing, the management of China Reinsurance also provided a response. “The company has no risk exposure in the Iran region. The overall direct risk exposure scale in the Middle East is relatively low, and in the short term will not cause any substantive impact on the group’s overall claims side,” said Wang Zhongyao, general manager of China Reinsurance Property & Casualty. After the outbreak of the conflict, each overseas business platform took necessary underwriting and risk-control measures in the first instance, and is ready at any time to continue adjusting its underwriting strategy based on developments. After an initial comprehensive assessment, the overall impact is controllable.

However, Wang Zhongyao also said that if the conflict expands or becomes prolonged and leads to a significant rise in international oil and fertilizer prices, thereby boosting inflation, it will indirectly affect the outlook for the international insurance and reinsurance market. The company will continue to track the conflict’s developments and potential losses and dynamically manage risk responses. At the same time, the company will focus on the “Belt and Road” initiative, continue to follow up on the protection needs of Chinese companies going global, and give full play to the role of the reinsurance “national team.”

As for the investment side, Li Wei, China Reinsurance’s chief investment officer and chairman of China Re Asset Management, said that facing an external environment characterized by high volatility and strong uncertainty, China Reinsurance has always adhered to steady and prudent asset allocation, and is committed to building systematic investment resilience. In addition, it will continue to improve a comprehensive risk management system covering both domestic and overseas operations. Recently, market volatility has increased, so the company will further strengthen the frequency of risk monitoring and assessment, use dynamic evaluations such as stress testing and scenario simulation, and ensure that all types of risk exposures remain generally controllable. At present, the overall portfolio is running smoothly and risks are within a controllable range.

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