Two consecutive leaps in one year! Is the "post-70s" founding veteran of Yingda Insurance set to become the chairman successor?

Author | Xie Meiyu                                   Editor | Fu Ying                                       Source | Dujiang Finance

A quietly posted announcement has marked the beginning of the key leadership transition at Yingda Taihe Property & Casualty Insurance Co., Ltd. (hereafter “Yingda P&C”).

Yingda P&C announced that, effective January 28, 2026, Zhou Quanliang will no longer serve as the company’s General Manager. Not long ago, on January 9, 2026, Zhou Quanliang, who had been in the role of General Manager for less than a year, succeeded Wu Jun as Party Secretary of the company. According to the practices of state-owned enterprises, Zhou Quanliang is likely to become the next Chairman.

Backed by State Grid, Yingda P&C has been profitable since its establishment in 2008 and is currently positioned in the “second tier” of the property insurance market. Notably, related-party transaction premiums at Yingda P&C have increased year over year since 2022, reaching over 8.5 billion yuan in 2025, accounting for 66% of total premiums; meanwhile, the overall premium growth has slowed, with 2025 insurance business revenue around 13.1 billion yuan, a slight increase of about 2.9%.

On one side is shareholder support; on the other, concerns over premium growth. In late January 2026, Yingda P&C’s 2026 work conference explicitly emphasized “serving the energy industry” and accelerating the development of a “second growth pole.” After the leadership change, can Yingda P&C break free from dependence on shareholders, step out of its comfort zone, and overcome growth bottlenecks?

1

Chairman has reached retirement age,

Zhou Quanliang achieves “two consecutive jumps” in less than a year

Public information shows that the current Chairman of Yingda P&C, Wu Jun, was born in 1965 and has reached the statutory retirement age.

Wu Jun has served as Director and Chief Accountant of the Social Insurance Bureau of the State Power Corporation, Director of the Finance Department of State Grid Corporation, and Chief Accountant of Henan Electric Power Corporation, accumulating financial vision and management experience. In December 2012, Wu Jun joined the financial sector of State Grid, serving as Chairman of Yingda Securities; in October 2019, he entered Yingda International Trust as General Manager and Vice Chairman. In March 2021, he was approved to serve as Chairman of Yingda P&C, a position he still holds.

Since taking office as Chairman, Wu Jun has clearly proposed “relying on but not depending on shareholder business,” consolidating services for State Grid and its ecosystem while vigorously expanding market-oriented business. In 2021, Yingda P&C’s insurance business revenue first surpassed 10 billion yuan, reaching 10.682 billion yuan, and has since grown steadily for four consecutive years.

On January 9, 2026, Zhou Quanliang succeeded Wu Jun as Party Secretary of the company. Now, having stepped down as General Manager, he is expected to naturally become Yingda P&C’s next Chairman.

Born in June 1973, Zhou Quanliang is 53 years old. He graduated from Renmin University of China with a degree in Statistics and obtained an MBA from Peking University in 2013. From his career path, Zhou is considered a founding veteran of Yingda P&C, with a full chain of experience from grassroots setup, headquarters management, group training, asset management leadership, to returning to the company.

Specifically, Zhou’s earliest role was as Assistant General Manager at Chang’an Insurance Brokers under State Grid. Later, in 2008, he participated in the founding of State Grid Property Insurance Company (the predecessor of Yingda P&C), serving as Deputy Director and Team Leader of the application and preparatory office, and managing Yingda P&C’s Beijing branch, making significant contributions to the company’s expansion and stabilization in Beijing.

In 2013, Zhou was promoted to the head office of Yingda P&C, serving as Assistant General Manager and Deputy General Manager, gradually becoming part of the core management team. In 2020, he was transferred to Deputy General Manager of State Grid Yingda International Holding Group, broadening his management perspective. In 2022, he also served as Chairman of Yingda Insurance Asset Management, honing his expertise in insurance asset management.

By October 2023, Zhou Quanliang was approved as a director of Yingda P&C. In February 2024, he joined the core management team as Deputy Party Secretary. After the departure of former General Manager Zhang Guoxing at the end of 2024, Zhou officially took over in February 2025. Less than a year later, he stepped down as General Manager and was promoted to Party Secretary.

Yuan Shuai, co-founder of New Wisdom New Quality Productivity Salon, believes, “Zhou Quanliang’s appointment as Party Secretary less than a year after serving as General Manager mainly reflects the company’s need for leadership succession among core executives. As Wu Jun, who has reached retirement age, steps down from the Party Secretary position, Zhou’s rapid succession actually continues the mature cadre training and handover mechanism within the State Grid system. This signals both recognition of internal talent development by State Grid and the company’s desire to maintain strategic stability through managers familiar with internal affairs.”

Zhi Peiyuan, Vice President of the Investment Professional Committee of China Investment Association, stated, “From a corporate governance perspective, this move signals strategic continuity, suggesting Zhou Quanliang may naturally succeed as Chairman to ensure decision-making stability. In the short term, it could enhance internal governance efficiency, but long-term effects depend on whether he can drive the company’s market-oriented transformation.”

Besides the Chairman and General Manager, Yingda P&C’s executive team also includes Vice General Manager and Party Committee Member Zhao Fuming, Chief Accountant and Financial Director Miao Pengfei, Vice General Manager and Party Committee Member and Board Secretary Yin Jiaqian, General Manager Assistant and Claims Operations (Consumer Rights Protection) Director Zhao Chunhui, Chief Actuary and Actuarial Department Director Liu Anze, Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Risk Officer and Risk Management Department Director Dong Jing, and Audit Responsible Person Zhou Haifeng.

Source: Yingda P&C Announcement

Looking at the resumes, among the current senior executives, besides Chairman Wu Jun and General Manager Assistant Zhao Chunhui, who are “post-60s,” the rest are “post-70s.” Their career paths are mainly internal promotions or appointments within State Grid, consistent with the typical selection style of most central enterprises.

Yuan Shuai pointed out, “This personnel model’s advantage lies in maximizing the synergy with the main business of the power grid. The company can focus on the long-term development of insurance related to the power grid, gradually establishing a differentiated advantage in the energy sector. However, this model also has limitations: long-term internal promotion may restrict management’s vision and lack fresh ideas from the market-oriented insurance industry.”

2

Related-party transaction premiums reach 8.5 billion yuan,

Is it a “ballast” or a “siege”?

Yingda P&C commenced operations in October 2008 with a registered capital of 6.6 billion yuan, based in Beijing. The actual controller is State Grid Corporation of China. With the long-term support of its shareholder, Yingda P&C has maintained a leading position in the second tier of the property insurance market.

In terms of profitability, Yingda P&C achieved profit in its first full year after establishment and has been profitable for 17 consecutive years, with a total profit of 10.677 billion yuan by 2025. In 2025, net profit was 1.213 billion yuan, a 16.75% increase year over year, ranking second among non-listed insurers.

Looking at insurance business revenue, except for declines in 2017 and 2018, the revenue has generally increased, though the growth rate has slowed in recent years. From 2022 to 2024, Yingda P&C’s insurance business revenue was 11.657 billion yuan, 12.426 billion yuan, and 12.734 billion yuan, respectively, with year-over-year growth of 9.13%, 6.6%, and 2.47%. Meanwhile, its market share in insurance revenue has slightly declined, from 0.79%, 0.78%, to 0.75% over the same period.

Source: Rating Report

By the end of 2025, Yingda P&C’s insurance business revenue was 13.097 billion yuan, a slight increase of about 2.9%, significantly lagging behind the overall non-listed property insurance industry’s premium growth of approximately 7.6% during the same period.

In terms of business composition, auto insurance remains one of Yingda P&C’s main lines, but its share has been decreasing. From 2022 to 2024, auto insurance premiums were 3.546 billion yuan, 3.512 billion yuan, and 3.383 billion yuan, accounting for 30.42%, 28.26%, and 26.57% of total insurance revenue. In 2025, auto insurance premiums signed were 3.349 billion yuan, reducing its share to 25.57%.

This decline is mainly due to leveraging the resource endowment of State Grid, fully utilizing expertise in energy and power sectors, and vigorously developing non-auto insurance businesses. From 2022 to 2024, non-auto insurance’s proportion increased from 67.7% to 75%.

As a result, related-party transactions have increased continuously. From 2022 to 2024, related-party transaction premiums were 6.029 billion yuan, 6.595 billion yuan, and 8.062 billion yuan, respectively, accounting for 51.72%, 53.07%, and 63.31% of total premiums that year. In 2025, related-party transaction premiums totaled 9.832 billion yuan, up 6.14% from 2024. Among these, insurance product sales amounted to approximately 8.583 billion yuan, representing 65.53% of the total insurance revenue for the year.

Yuan Shuai commented, “The continuous increase in related-party transaction premiums alongside a slowdown in overall premium growth indicates that the company’s over-reliance on the energy grid’s core business has hit growth bottlenecks. The related-party premiums mainly come from internal business within the State Grid system. While this ensures a stable business base, as energy grid-related insurance demand becomes saturated, the growth potential of this segment diminishes. Meanwhile, the company’s expansion into market-oriented businesses has not kept pace, making it difficult to offset the slowdown in related-party business growth through external channels.”

Shareholder business is both a ballast and a siege. Facing growth challenges, Yingda P&C’s 2026 work conference in Beijing in late January set out major goals for the “14th Five-Year Plan,” including building a first-class property insurance enterprise, achieving top operational performance, cultivating top talent, and establishing top risk prevention and control. The company also emphasized consolidating the “fundamental growth pole” while explicitly “serving the energy industry” and accelerating the creation of a “second growth pole.”

Yufeng Hui, a specially invited researcher at China Financial Think Tank, stated, “In the face of the plateauing of the energy grid’s main business growth, Yingda P&C can deepen non-auto insurance development, such as increasing investments in health and liability insurance, actively expanding online channels and services to fill growth gaps and achieve diversification. Additionally, leveraging technology to improve operational efficiency and service quality is also a key strategy.”

Yuan Shuai suggested, “Yingda P&C can rely on its experience in the energy sector to explore niche insurance segments, developing customized products around new scenarios like renewable energy generation, energy storage, and grid construction, transforming its understanding of the power industry into a competitive advantage. Furthermore, it can consider introducing market-oriented talent and mechanisms, breaking the single personnel model, attracting insurance industry professionals, promoting product innovation and market expansion, and exploring cooperation with new energy vehicle manufacturers, logistics companies, and other external entities.”