China Life Insurance president resigns; successor named

China Life Insurance Company (CLIC) has announced that Su Hengxuan, president, executive director and a member of the strategy and assets and liabilities management committee, has resigned from these roles.

China’s second-largest insurer said that Su’s resignation was because of an “adjustment of work arrangements”. Su filed his resignation on Aug. 1, with immediate effect. Following his resignation, Su ceased to be the company’s authorised representative, as required under the Hong Kong stock exchange’s rules. Li Mingguang, an executive director of the company, will take over as authorised representative.

“Mr Su Hengxuan has confirmed that he has no disagreement with the board and there are no other matters relating to his resignation that need to be brought to the attention of the shareholders of the company,” the company said. “The company would like to express its gratitude to Mr Su Hengxuan for his contribution to the company during his tenure of service.”

Succeeding Su as president is Zhao Peng, who was appointed as president and nominated as an executive director on Tuesday, subject to approval from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and China Life’s shareholders.

From 2020 to 2022, Zhao was vice president of the Agricultural Development Bank of China. From 2017 to 2020, he held several senior roles at CLIC, including assistant to the president, vice president, chief financial officer, and executive director. He was also a non-executive director of Sino-Ocean Group Holding from 2019 to 2021.

Zhao graduated from the Hunan College of Finance and Economics, Central University of Finance and Economics and Tsinghua University with master’s degrees in economics and business administration.