Mainland long-term policy commission paid over at least 3 or 5 years as regulator pushes agent professionalism

On the mainland, commission on long-term insurance policies must be paid out over at least three or five years, depending on the premium payment term. Insurers must also set up a mechanism to claw back commission when an agent's illegal or non-compliant conduct causes financial loss. These rules were written into a regulatory document in 2025; in 2026, regulators have turned their attention further to the agents themselves.

According to 21st Century Business Herald (the piece originated with Securities Companies China), Cong Lin, deputy head of the National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA), spoke at the Insurance Conference of the 2026 Financial Street Forum Annual Conference on 20 October 2026. He called for faster reform of the sales system and for agents to become more professional and career-minded. Cailianshe also reported Cong's remarks at the event on the same day. The remarks quoted in this article are all based on 21st Century Business Herald; we have not yet been able to check them against primary reports from the NFRA website or Xinhua.

From speed and scale to quality and returns

Cong said the insurance industry must resolutely abandon its obsession with scale and shift from pursuing speed and size to putting quality and efficiency at the centre.

He set different requirements for firms of different sizes. Small and medium-sized insurers should actively cut volume and raise quality, explore specialised operations and firmly curb irrational competition. Large insurers should proactively align with national strategy and lead high-quality development in the industry.

Product suitability alongside consumer protection

On the sales side, Cong called for strict product suitability management, with the aim of improving consumers' sense of benefit, satisfaction and trust. He also stressed stronger protection of insurance consumers' rights and interests, and insurers meeting their primary responsibilities.

According to the report, the speech cited no specific statistics and did not mention the number of agents or recruitment figures.

The 2025 notice already set the commission timetable

The backdrop to Cong's speech is the 2025 notice issued by the NFRA on deepening reform of the individual agent system in the life insurance industry, document number Jin Gui [2025] No. 13, dated 14 April 2025. Two of its articles bear directly on agents' income structure:

• Article 7: for policies with a premium payment term of 5 years (inclusive) to 10 years, commission must be paid out over no less than 3 years; for policies with a term of 10 years or more, over no less than 5 years.
• Article 8: a mechanism must be established to claw back commission and pay from cases where an insurance salesperson's illegal or non-compliant conduct causes financial loss, so as to guard against operational risk.

Analysis: what it means for recruiting teams

What follows is editorial analysis. Neither Cong's speech nor the notice directly addresses recruitment; the views below are our inferences from public information.

• Yardsticks may change: regulators are moving the emphasis from scale to quality and efficiency. A team that still treats headcount recruited as its main measure may not be in line with the direction regulators describe.
• The candidate profile may need adjusting: the language of professionalism and career-mindedness suggests recruiters may need to look more at whether candidates will stay long term and can get through ongoing training, not only at short-term sales ability.
• New recruits' income expectations need to be explained: with long-term policy commission deferred, the cash-flow pattern in a newcomer's early months may differ from before. Explaining this honestly at recruitment may help reduce later attrition.
• Compliance training may carry more weight: the clawback mechanism could mean the cost of misconduct falls on personal income, and together with product suitability requirements, training and record-keeping in the sales process will matter more.

For recruiting managers, what matters may no longer be how many people were hired this year, but how many are still on the team three years from now.

Compiled by the F50 Editorial Team from public sources, for general reference only and not professional advice. Details are correct as of the publication date and may change.