China Life Insurance Company Limited is a Beijing-headquartered China-incorporated company that provides life insurance and annuity products.

China Life is ranked No. 94 on Fortune 2015 Global 500 Company list. With 70% state-ownership, China Life is the biggest life insurer in China in terms of total assets, but has experienced economic difficulty in the past years.

China’s insurance market has attracted dozens of new competitors after the Chinese government liberalized it, and China Life’s market share has fallen by almost half since 2007, from 50% to around 26%, according to Morningstar. The company is completing a major restructuring, and the government assigned it a new CEO in 2014.

A new sales push early this year (fueled by an army of newly hired agents) led to a big bump in net income in the first quarter of 2015. China Life is also ranked on Fortune China: 2015 Top 500 Chinese Enterprises at No.13.

China Life has more than 600,000 agents nationwide, making its cost of acquiring new customers relatively low. China Life has a substantial share of China’s group life and health insurance business, and its government ties give it an inroad to help it build that business among state-owned enterprises.

In 2015 China’s government allowed Chinese insurance companies to invest in foreign real estate; China Life subsequently made its first such investment, in a Boston waterfront project.

Traded as:                 NYSE: LFC; SSE: 601628; SEHK: 2628

Industry:                    Financial services

Founded:                   1949; 72 years ago (as PICC)

Headquarters           Beijing, China

Products:                   Life & Health insurance

Owner:         

• China Life Insurance Group (68.37%)
• China Securities Finance (2.03%)
• Central Huijin (0.42%)

Parent:           China Life Insurance Group

Website:        www.chinalife.com.cn