National regulators have publicly sanctioned multiple regional branches of China United Property & Casualty Insurance Co. in a wave of disciplinary actions revealed between early January and February 2026. The National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA) and its regional offices published administrative penalty notices that cite a catalogue of compliance failures—fabricated financial records, fictitious intermediary fees, inflated agricultural-insurance business, unauthorized contract benefits and late claim payments—across more than a dozen local units.
The most recent disclosure, from the Sichuan regulatory bureau on Feb. 10, singled out four Sichuan branches for misconduct. Penalties ranged from warning letters to fines: Chengdu central branch was fined 360,000 yuan, managers received personal fines and warnings; Dujiangyan, Qionglai and Chengdu Jinjiang branches were also fined and their managers sanctioned for fabricating business, overstating agricultural insurance volumes or inventing intermediary services to extract fees.
Those Sichuan actions add to a string of earlier penalties that together number at least 15 public enforcement decisions in the opening weeks of 2026. Regional regulators from Dongguan, Zhuzhou, Changde, Qingyuan, Jiangxi, Qinhuangdao, Jiujiang, Xi'an, Ezhou, Panjin, Taoyuan and Suining issued fines and personnel punishments for problems including altered policy terms, falsified reports, unauthorized sales through unqualified agencies, missing licences and overdue claim payments. Fines at individual branches ranged from several thousand yuan up to 500,000 yuan, while in one case an employee was banned from the insurance industry for three years.
The pattern of violations is notable for its diversity and geographical spread. Repeated offenses—such as inventing intermediary fees and fabricating documentation—point less to isolated bad actors than to systemic lapses in controls, incentives and oversight at the local-branch level. Several penalties explicitly name branch managers and senior local executives, indicating regulators are holding individuals accountable as well as the institution.
For international observers, the episode illustrates two broader trends. First, Chinese financial regulators continue to press insurers to clean up sales and underwriting practices as part of a broader campaign to strengthen market conduct and financial-stability oversight. Second, the enforcement emphasis on agricultural insurance, intermediary fees and product compliance reflects policy priorities: regulators want accurate agricultural risk coverage, transparent distribution chains and faithful adherence to approved product terms.
The immediate implications for China United include direct financial costs from fines, reputational damage, and likely higher compliance and remediation spending. For policyholders in affected regions, the sanctions may raise short-term concerns about claim handling and product integrity. More broadly, the case serves as a warning to other insurers operating in China: regional mismanagement and incentive structures that reward volume over compliance are increasingly costly under a stricter regulatory regime.