Bai Tao

Bai Tao graduated in finance from Renmin University of China and worked at ICBC for 30 years, accumulating extensive banking experience: he served as vice president or assistant president of several branches, including Hainan, Jilin and Hunan, and headed head-office departments including the Project Credit Department, the Risk Management Department and the Internal Audit Department. In June 2014 he left ICBC to become a Party committee member and vice president of China Life Insurance (Group) Company, in charge of the legal and resource integration departments, without overseeing any specific insurance business. In October 2016 he became deputy general manager of China Investment Corporation and general manager and executive director of Central Huijin.

According to Caixin, Bai Tao, with his background at a major bank as well as experience in insurance and investment, was regarded as a rare leader with comprehensive financial capabilities. He had a good reputation among colleagues and was described as “in his prime, with a strong track record, rapidly promoted, approachable, and open to advice”; a person close to Central Huijin said he was “steady yet innovative, pushed through quite a few institutional reforms at Central Huijin, and was rather bold”, for example by advancing a full-time director system under which Central Huijin employees no longer served concurrently as directors.

In June 2018, Caixin reported that Bai Tao would become president of PICC Group. The post had long been vacant since PICC Group president Wang Yincheng was taken away for investigation in January 2017. In April 2017, Miao Jianmin, former president of China Life Insurance (Group) Company, took over as deputy Party secretary and president of PICC Group; in November of the same year, Wu Yan, the former Party secretary and chairman of PICC Group, was transferred to become vice-chairman of the National Council for Social Security Fund, and Miao Jianmin took over as Party secretary and chairman, after which the post of president remained unfilled.

The first-instance verdict in Wang Yincheng’s case was announced on May 24, 2018, and Wang Yincheng was sentenced to 11 years in prison for accepting bribes.

Bai Tao’s arrival came as PICC Group’s A-share listing was imminent. On 5 June 2018, PICC Group’s A-share IPO application was approved, making it set to become the fifth insurer in mainland China to issue shares in “A+H” form. According to the prospectus, at the end of 2017 PICC Group had total assets of 987.973 billion yuan and net assets of 185.959 billion yuan; that year its insurance business revenue was 476.444 billion yuan and net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent was 16.1 billion yuan, up 13% from the previous year; its subsidiary PICC P&C held 33.1% of the property insurance market. By insurance business revenue and net profit, PICC Group ranked in the industry behind only China Life and Ping An.