Overview
From October 19 to 22, the 2026 Financial Street Forum in Beijing held its first-ever insurance conference, themed “Global Resilience, Insurance Empowerment—Building an Open and Inclusive Insurance Ecosystem”. NFRA Vice Chairman Cong Lin said the industry must precisely serve the key areas and weak links of national strategy and play its roles as an economic “shock absorber” and social “stabiliser”. The conference focused on four hot topics—technology insurance, inclusive insurance, pension insurance and catastrophe insurance—and released the Research on High-Quality Development of the Insurance Industry during the 15th Five-Year Plan, proposing three core tasks and 18 high-quality-development indicators.
Background & Interpretation
1. Regulatory & Industry Background
The 15th Five-Year Plan period is a critical transition from high-speed growth to high-quality development for insurance. Cong outlined three priorities: serving new-quality productive forces by building full-chain product systems around tech innovation, green transition and “six networks”, and expanding tech, green and liability insurance; empowering livelihoods via commercial pension, health and long-term-care insurance and a sound catastrophe insurance system; and supporting high-level opening-up through export-credit insurance and a faster Shanghai international reinsurance centre.
2. Core Drivers & Mechanisms
The 18 indicators signal a shift from “scale and speed” to “quality and efficiency” in assessment. Regulators made clear that large insurers should be the main force serving the real economy, while smaller ones should improve quality, shrink redundantly and curb irrational competition such as price wars and illegal rebates. The “patient capital” nature of insurance funds is emphasised, deployable via equity, debt plans and securitisation to support major strategies and new infrastructure.
3. Market Structure & Industry Chain Impact
The industry must abandon the “scale complex” and improve supply适配. For tech insurance, first-batch and first-edition compensation mechanisms and risk-diversification models need refinement; inclusive insurance must cover new citizens, gig workers, low-income groups and SMEs; pension and long-term-care insurance should integrate into the multi-tier social-security system. Digital transformation is on the agenda, with AI deeply embedded in underwriting and claims and cross-industry risk-data sharing explored.
Implications & Outlook
Near term, regulatory guidance will steer insurers to optimise business structure and investment direction; medium term, the four tracks—tech, inclusive, pension and catastrophe—should expand. Watch the 15th Five-Year supporting rules, catastrophe-insurance implementation, and reforms to insurance-fund market access and assessment.
Takeaways for Industry Participants
- For insurers: replace scale pursuit with quality/efficiency; build differentiated capabilities around the four topics.
- For tech and green industries: use tech and green insurance to spread innovation risk and tap first-batch compensation.
- For investors and enterprises: follow insurance funds as patient capital and capture long-money-supported sectors.
This column compiles industry information and shares technical perspectives; it does not constitute investment advice.