Source: Insurance Experts
In two days, on 9/30, the "Administrative Measures for Online Marketing of Financial Products" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures") will officially take effect.
The "Measures," jointly issued by the People's Bank of China and seven other departments, consists of 7 chapters and 39 articles. As the first regulatory framework covering all financial sectors for online marketing, it explicitly includes insurance under unified standards. In the pre-implementation window period, the industry has been preparing intensively. Strict controls on internet marketing of financial products are now in place! Eight major departments have released a landmark policy: insurance products must not be simply compared with deposits or asset management products...
According to public reports, leading platforms including Tencent, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu are simultaneously conducting special campaigns to clean up financial marketing. Tencent has removed 53 non-compliant financial ads and suspended 3 unlicensed financial accounts. Douyin revoked certifications for 6888 non-compliant "financial advisors" and handled over 4.5 million pieces of non-compliant financial content in total during Q3 of year 2026. WeChat Pay and Alipay have also separated payment tools from loan products on their checkout pages. Meanwhile, insurance companies are actively launching internal compliance checks and specialized training programs.
The Measures directly include the most frequently complained aspects of internet insurance in their prohibited list: no exaggeration of insurance coverage or product returns; no simplistic comparisons between insurance returns and bank deposits or wealth management products; pop-up marketing must clearly display a close button and offer one-click closure; third-party platforms facilitating purchases must redirect users to the insurer's official platform; marketers using live streaming, short videos, or official accounts must be licensed financial institution employees with proper authorization; non-bank payment institutions must not list loans or asset management products as payment options; algorithm-based marketing must not use models that encourage overconsumption. In response to media inquiries, eight regulatory bodies including the central bank urged third-party platforms to act as "gatekeepers" and advised consumers to "check qualifications, review contracts, and calculate costs."
Another document aligning with the "Measures" is currently being developed. In late 9, regulators solicited feedback from insurance companies and intermediary platforms on the "Notice on Further Regulating Internet Insurance Operations" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"). The notice establishes 10 prohibitions across four areas: sales conduct, product management, payment management, and channel management—collectively known in the industry as the "Ten Prohibitions." According to a report by the "21 Century Economic Review," regulators recently convened over 30 insurance companies to discuss compliant development of internet insurance and sought input from more than a dozen major insurance groups and intermediary platforms. As of 9/28, the document has not yet been made public.
Regarding sales conduct, 4 prohibited practices are clearly outlined. According to the Securities Daily, hijacking traffic to apps, driving users via QR codes, and conducting insurance gifting business in violation of regulations are banned; operations that obscure policy surrender or automatic renewal deductions are also prohibited. As reported by the 21 Century Economic Report, opening splash-screen pop-up hijacks and app launch hijacks are explicitly forbidden. Ad labels must be clear, and users cannot be misled into clicking ads or prevented from easily exiting. Offline QR code scenarios such as "single-bike scanning" and "package pickup scanning," where there is no actual need for insurance coverage, have been added to the prohibition list, and the "fast app" model has been directly halted. The practice of using free or complimentary coverage as a lure to obtain enrollment authorization and automatic deduction permissions—known as "gift-to-paid conversion"—has been singled out for criticism.
Payment processes must be more transparent. Hidden or obscured charges, silent deductions, and password-free payments are prohibited. Charges cannot be applied based on simplified notifications. Platform payment authorization shall not serve as default authorization for insurance premium deductions. At the product level, using unapproved or unbroaded terms and rates is explicitly banned; products with excessively high deductibles or low reimbursement ratios are halted from development. At the distribution channel level, indirect delegation of online insurance sales and promotion to unqualified platforms, individuals, or organizations is prohibited. Please note that these details are based on media reports; the official regulatory text remains the authoritative source.
Prior to this, local regulators had already issued warnings about such乱象. On 9 month 8, the National Financial Regulatory Administration's website published "Risk Warning on Internet Marketing of Insurance" (source: Shanxi Regulatory Bureau), highlighting common tactics including ads disguised as app services, low-price "first month free" offers that automatically revert to full price without clear notification, fine-print terms and premium details at the bottom of pages, default opt-in for auto-renewal and password-free payments, and consumers discovering issues only after the cooling-off period has expired, making refunds difficult. The warning also included specific cases, such as a charging app prompting users to view a "battery health report" after charging ends, which requires purchasing a $2 yuan "long-term battery protection" service. Similarly, on 4 month 30, the Hunan Regulatory Bureau issued a comparable warning advising caution when encountering pop-up ads offering "claim coverage" or "free trials" while scanning QR codes for shared bikes, shared printers, or outpatient payment services.
Beyond the warnings, media tests and judicial cases confirm the prevalence of these issues. According to a July 7 report by China Consumer News, a reporter scanning a QR code at a Hithome locker in Fuzhou was prompted with an insurance ad. After clicking through for about 5 minutes without reading any terms or checking any agreements, they received a text message stating, "You have successfully purchased insurance." A "million-yuan medical insurance" policy was then automatically renewed via WeChat every month. Beijing Daily reported that an elderly person, while scanning a shared bike, was offered insurance for 0.6. Misunderstanding it as "pay 6 cents to ride," they proceeded with payment, which had the "password-free payment" option pre-selected. As a result, 173 yuan was deducted from their account each month for three months before the elder informed their family.
Judicial data also reflects the severity of the issue. According to the Beijing Financial Court, since its establishment in 2021, online insurance disputes have accounted for over 60% of all insurance cases heard by the court. Li Li, Deputy Head of the Case Filing Tribunal, noted that some cases involved insufficient explanation of standard terms, inadequate underwriting responsibilities, and exaggerated or misleading promotional practices. In one disclosed case, an insured's policy was automatically renewed via deduction for seven consecutive years; the insurer merely notified cancellation through a collection SMS. The court ruled that this failed to meet the obligation to provide clear notice and explanation regarding contract termination, rendering the non-renewal notification legally ineffective. Beyond individual cases, the scale is significant: on the Black Cat Complaint platform [Download Black Cat Complaint App], there are over 3.6 valid complaints related to "insurance" and "deductions," and nearly 7000 related to "free" and "insurance."
Alongside this disorder, the market has expanded rapidly. According to a report released in 2026 by Yuanbao Group and the China Insurance and Pension Finance Research Center of Tsinghua University's PBC School of Finance, online insurance premiums are projected to exceed 7000 billion yuan in 2025, representing year-over-year growth of over 25%, with penetration rising to approximately 11.5%. Meanwhile, online channels of traditional insurers accounted for 63% of consumer purchase channels, surpassing offline channels for the first time. A report published by the China Insurance Association in 8 shows that online property insurance premiums reached 1845.5 billion yuan in 2025, growing 17.2% year-over-year, with penetration increasing from 9.3% to 10.5%. Compared to the 2021 billion yuan disclosed earlier by the association, the scale has more than doubled over the past four years.
The flip side of rapid expansion is the industry's reliance on free insurance add-ons, low-cost trial offers, pop-up traffic drivers, and password-free payment deductions—all of which are explicitly prohibited by the Notice. The regulatory framework for online insurance has been in place for a decade: 2015's Interim Measures for Online Insurance Business brought third-party platforms under supervision; 2020 saw the implementation of rules requiring sales behavior traceability and the Online Insurance Business Supervision Measures, establishing the principle of licensed operations and mandating that policy purchase pages belong to insurers' own digital platforms; 2021 marked a special rectification campaign targeting online insurance irregularities, followed by standardized regulations for online life insurance; 2024 introduced new supervisory notices covering online property insurance. Earlier regulatory rounds addressed "who can sell," while this Notice shifts focus to "how to sell," setting prohibitions at every stage—from traffic generation and policy purchase to payment processing, renewal, and cancellation.
What was banned is "demand-free" and "harvesting"; channels like QR code scanning and "Fast Apps" themselves were not rejected. Chen Detao, General Manager of Xiaoyusan Insurance Brokerage, stated that "Fast Apps" are system-level entry points and inherently neutral; the regulatory crackdown targets practices that create information asymmetry and force insurance on users who lack risk awareness. Yang Fan, General Manager of Beijing PaiPaiWang Insurance Agency Co., Ltd., also noted that scenario-based marketing itself is not problematic; what matters is ensuring a genuine risk connection between the insurance products and the scenarios. Both experts agree on preserving convenient underwriting needs in authentic scenarios while eliminating traffic conversion driven by false demand.
At the operational level, impacts vary by entity, and feedback has been mixed. Long Ge, Deputy Director of the Center for Innovation and Risk Management at the University of International Business and Economics, noted that institutions' practical challenges center on defining distorted products, costs of renewing existing policies, and clarifying business scope boundaries. Practices such as pop-up hijacking for traffic diversion and offering free insurance to acquire customers will be restricted, putting short-term pressure on premiums and renewal business for some internet-focused insurers.
Industry insiders warn that smaller insurers may face further pressure. The model of "low first-month pricing followed by conversion to commercial policies after a trial period" is mature; it should be regulated through full disclosure and independent secondary confirmation rather than a blanket ban. Insurers expanding via "high commissions + traffic acquisition" will face significant headwinds. With mandatory secondary confirmation and explicit authorization, short-term renewal rate declines and rising customer acquisition costs are inevitable. In the medium term, retention rates and complaint rates will replace conversion rates as key performance indicators.
At the same time, pressure is already visible in the financial reports of listed intermediaries. Shouhui Group's 2026 overall gross margin for the first half of the year dropped to 29.3%, primarily due to the implementation of the "reporting and action alignment" policy and increased investments in the dividend insurance channel.
Earlier, local initiatives also took shape. Under the guidance of the Beijing Financial Regulatory Bureau, the Beijing Insurance Intermediaries Association and the Beijing Insurance Association jointly issued the "Operational Guidelines for Internet Promotion and Sales of Short-Term Health Insurance in Beijing (Trial Version)." The guidelines require sales pages to prominently display total premiums, exclusions, renewal terms, and other key information via independent pop-ups. Automatic policy renewal must be authorized separately with explicit consent; default-checked boxes are prohibited in place of active user selection.
The competitive foundation of online insurance is set to shift: traffic gateways will matter less, while products and services will carry more weight. In the short term, customer acquisition and renewal models relying on information asymmetry and inducement will face pressure; premiums for online health insurance and short-term medical plans will be disrupted first. Over the medium to long term, retention rates, complaint rates, and service experience will determine success.
