The trend of insurers issuing bonds to boost their capital bases remains active in the industry.

On September 11, the Beijing Financial Regulatory Bureau published two approvals, granting permission for Greatwall Life Insurance Co to publicly issue 10-year callable subordinated bonds on the interbank bond market, with a total scale not exceeding 3.5 billion yuan. Simultaneously, it approved Beijing Life Insurance Co to publicly issue perpetual bonds on the same market. According to the official notices, both companies are required to complete the issuance within the validity period granted by the market's regulatory authority and must report the issuance details to the bureau within ten working days after completion.

This marks the second time Greatwall Life has secured approval for capital-boosting bond issuance this year. Back in January, the bureau had already approved the company to issue 10-year callable subordinated bonds, capped at 1 billion yuan. Following that green light, Greatwall Life successfully issued the bonds on February 5, with a scale of 1 billion yuan, a term of 5+5 years, and a coupon rate of 2.54%. In its solvency report for the first quarter of 2026, the insurer disclosed that proceeds from this issuance were received on February 9, which lifted its comprehensive solvency adequacy ratio by approximately nine percentage points.

The latest approval, allowing Greatwall Life to issue up to 3.5 billion yuan, represents a substantial increase compared with the 1 billion yuan authorized at the start of the year.

Throughout 2026, insurers have ramped up their activities in issuing subordinated bonds and perpetual bonds to strengthen capital positions. Based on incomplete statistics, apart from Greatwall Life and Beijing Life, other industry players—including New China Life, PICC Life, Minsheng Life, Hengqin Life, BNP Paribas Cardif Life, Aegon THTF Life, Taikang Pension, China Post Life, China United Property Insurance, CMG Life, and China United Life—have each obtained regulatory approval for similar bond issuances.

Looking at completed deals, the first half of this year witnessed robust momentum in insurer debt issuance for capital replenishment.

The two types of bonds differ in their capital attributes. Under current solvency regulations, eligible perpetual bonds can be counted as Tier 2 core capital, while subordinated bonds are mainly used to supplement Tier 1 ancillary capital. Consequently, perpetual bonds can directly enhance core capital, boosting both the core solvency adequacy ratio and the comprehensive solvency adequacy ratio, whereas subordinated bonds primarily improve the latter metric.

The ongoing capital-raising wave is closely tied to shifts in the regulatory environment. The National Financial Regulatory Administration previously extended the transition period for implementing Solvency Regulation Rules (II) for insurers to the end of 2025, allowing those significantly impacted by the transition between old and new rules to adopt a staggered approach on a case-by-case basis. Now that this transition period has concluded, insurers must fully comply with the updated solvency requirements starting in 2026.

Another contributing factor is the current low interest rate environment, which has reduced financing costs for bond issuance. For instance, Greatwall Life's 1 billion yuan subordinated bond issued in February carried a coupon rate of just 2.54%, reflecting these favorable conditions.