"Post-80s" at the Helm: Oriental Jiafu Life Insurance Embarks on a New Journey

After a series of reforms including capital increases and rebranding, the core management team of Oriental Jiafu Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Oriental Jiafu Life”) has finally been finalized. On March 16, the Zhejiang Regulatory Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission officially approved Liu Dayong to serve as the company’s General Manager. With this approval, the insurance company, which transitioned from a joint venture to a state-owned holding, has completed its key personnel restructuring after changes in ownership and name. The young management team, composed of Chairman He Xin and General Manager Liu Dayong—both born in the 1980s—has officially taken the helm. What is the future direction of Oriental Jiafu Life? What will be its business focus? Only time will tell.

Younger Management Team

In August last year, former General Manager Zhang Xifan resigned due to personal reasons after only eight months in office. At that time, Vice General Manager Liu Dayong was appointed as interim leader, acting as General Manager. On March 16, the Zhejiang Regulatory Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission officially approved Liu Dayong’s appointment as General Manager, marking his transition from interim to official role and signaling that the core management restructuring was essentially complete.

In addition to the General Manager appointment, the approval for Chairman He Xin’s position was also granted last year. In November, the Zhejiang Regulatory Bureau approved He Xin’s appointment as Chairman of Oriental Jiafu Life.

Currently, the most notable aspect of the management structure is that both He Xin and Liu Dayong are born in the 1980s. This young management team is rare among core leadership in the life insurance industry. According to available information, He Xin was born in February 1982, is a Certified Public Accountant in China and a member of the Australian CPA. She started working in 2004, joining PwC Zhongtian Accounting Firm in Xi’an, where she served as auditor, senior auditor, manager, and senior manager. In 2008, she was seconded to PwC Hong Kong. In 2017, she joined Zhejiang Oriental Group Co., Ltd. (now renamed Zhejiang Oriental Holding Group Co., Ltd.), where she is currently a member of the Party Committee, Vice President, and Secretary of the Board of Directors.

Liu Dayong was born in June 1981 and holds a PhD. He started working in July 2008, serving as a consultant for Ping An reform projects, senior manager at Sunshine Insurance Group’s Strategy and Innovation Development Center, head of Planning and Marketing at Hongkang Life Insurance Co., Ltd., head of Planning and Marketing at United Life Insurance Co., Ltd., and head of Strategic Planning at Financial OneConnect.

In recent years, the intergenerational change in insurance management has accelerated, with youth and professionalism becoming new trends. Wang Peng, a deputy researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, stated that younger teams respond more quickly to digital transformation and health and wellness ecosystems, breaking the traditional “scale-driven” path dependency of insurance companies. Longer career tenures are beneficial for the continuity of medium- and long-term strategies, avoiding governance disruptions caused by frequent management changes.

“From a business perspective, areas such as life insurance actuarial science, compliance management, and long-term capital operations require deep industry experience. Moreover, there may be generation gaps between young managers and veteran employees; if communication mechanisms are not well established, internal collaboration efficiency could decline, affecting team cohesion,” industry insiders added.

Reshaping Ownership and Strategy

Behind the personnel shake-up is the reshaping of Oriental Jiafu Life’s ownership structure and strategic layout.

Originally named China-Korea Life Insurance, founded in 2012, the company was initially jointly owned 50/50 by Zhejiang International Trade Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Zhejiang Guomao”) and Hanwha Life Insurance Co., Ltd. of South Korea. Later, Zhejiang Guomao transferred its shares to Zhejiang Oriental.

2022 marked a turning point for Oriental Jiafu Life. Zhejiang Oriental increased its capital and shareholding to 33.33%, while Hanwha Life’s stake decreased to 24.99%. This capital increase also introduced five Zhejiang local state-owned enterprises, transforming the company from a joint venture into a state-controlled enterprise. Currently, Zhejiang Oriental is the controlling shareholder, with the Zhejiang State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission as the actual controller.

Major changes in ownership often accompany company name changes and governance reforms, including significant adjustments to the board and top executives. In January 2025, regulatory approval was obtained for the name change from “China-Korea Life” to “Oriental Jiafu Life.” In August 2025, former General Manager Zhang Xifan resigned for personal reasons, and in November, He Xin was approved as Chairman.

Previously, Oriental Jiafu Life faced profitability pressures. A review by Beijing Business Today found that from 2012 to 2023, the company only turned a profit in 2020, with losses totaling over 1.5 billion yuan in other years. The turning point came in 2024, when the company’s insurance business revenue reached 3.21 billion yuan with a net profit of 10 million yuan; in 2025, profits continued to grow, with revenue of 3.972 billion yuan and net profit increasing to 60 million yuan.

However, business growth has also accelerated the depletion of solvency margins. As of the end of Q4 2025, Oriental Jiafu Life’s core solvency adequacy ratio was 111%, and the comprehensive solvency adequacy ratio was 222%. While still well above regulatory thresholds, these figures have declined significantly from 393.57% and 427.54% at the start of the capital increase in Q3 2022.

Beijing Business Today attempted to contact Oriental Jiafu Life for comments on business development but had not received a response as of publication.

Where to Next?

With the core management team in place and profitability achieved, Oriental Jiafu Life stands at a new starting point.

Regarding future development, Chairman He Xin stated at the 2026 work conference that the company will focus on two main themes: “Healthy Finance” and “Shared Prosperity Finance,” striving to build a “value-based insurance company” with innovation, partnership synergy, and organizational evolution.

Leveraging its location in the Yangtze River Delta and the advantages of state-owned resources is a key competitive edge for Oriental Jiafu Life. How can the company best utilize these strengths? Zhi Peiyuan, Vice President of the Investment Professional Committee of the China Investment Association, suggested that Oriental Jiafu Life should rely on its local state-owned shareholders, especially Zhejiang Oriental, which has full financial licensing and industry integration capabilities. The company can leverage its network in trade, investment, and wealth management to facilitate industry-finance integration—such as offering customized group insurance products for employees of shareholder companies and developing insurance services for upstream and downstream clients in the supply chain to expand business scenarios.

Additionally, industry insiders mentioned that Oriental Jiafu Life could utilize its local state-owned background to participate in regional livelihood projects in Zhejiang and the Yangtze River Delta, such as supplemental health insurance, elderly care community construction, and rural revitalization insurance services, thereby enhancing brand credibility and attracting a stable customer base.

Beijing Business Today reporter: Li Xiumei