PICC Vice President Yu Ze Officially Placed Under Investigation

On December 6, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission announced that Yu Ze, a member of the Party Committee and Vice President of the People’s Insurance Company of China (PICC), is under investigation for suspected serious disciplinary and legal violations. He is currently undergoing disciplinary review and supervisory inquiry.

This development follows earlier industry reports highlighting major turbulence within the financial sector, including the news that a top executive at a leading property insurance firm had been taken away for investigation—an event that triggered a stock price drop of more than 6%.

Public records show that Yu Ze was born in 1971 and graduated from Nankai University in 1994. His career in the insurance industry, spanning three decades, can be divided into three major chapters: his early years at PICC, a long tenure at Taiping Insurance, and his eventual return to PICC. From July 1994 to October 2006, he worked at the former PICC and PICC Property & Casualty Tianjin Branch. Between October 2006 and December 2019, he served at Taiping Insurance, rising to the position of General Manager of Taiping P&C. In November 2019, he returned to PICC and was appointed Party Committee Member and Vice President—placing him among the centrally managed senior executives. Over his six years back at PICC, the group has seen four different top leaders rotate through its helm.

Yu Ze took over as head of PICC Property & Casualty in March 2021, becoming Party Secretary and President-designate of the country’s largest P&C insurer. Over the past four years, he has become the longest-serving leader among the company’s recent five top executives. During his tenure, market rumors occasionally suggested he might be reassigned or promoted, but none of those speculations materialized.

Notably, the role of chief executive at PICC Property & Casualty carries substantial market influence and public visibility. Among the company’s most recent five leaders—from Wang Yincheng to Lin Zhiyong and now Yu Ze—three have failed to complete their terms smoothly, underscoring the intense scrutiny and challenges associated with steering China’s largest P&C insurer.