China Life AMP AMC Changes GM! Three-Year Decline in Scale & Performance Raises Governance Concerns

Image source: Visual China

The insurance-backed fund company China Life AMP Asset Management has changed its general manager.

On June 23, the company announced that GM E Hua left due to work arrangements, and Liu Zhongjiang took over as GM. Liu previously served as GM of the Direct Investment Department and GM of the Fixed Income Investment Department at major shareholder China Life.

E Hua, who stepped down, had been GM since January 2023, a tenure of three years and five-plus months. Before joining China Life AMP, he was GM of the Equity Investment Department at China Life.

On the company's homepage, the slogan reads: 'Staying true to our original intention for 12 years, repaying every trust.' However, the company's actual performance over the past three years has been less than satisfactory. As of end-Q1 this year, the company's non-monetary fund scale was 181.8 billion yuan, ranking 30th in the industry. However, the fund types are predominantly bond funds, with equity funds accounting for a very small share: stock funds about 10 billion yuan, hybrid funds about 5.6 billion yuan.

As former GM of China Life's Equity Department, E Hua did not see an increase in equity fund scale during his tenure; it actually declined. Hybrid fund scale dropped by as much as 50%.

During E Hua's tenure, not only did equity fund performance and scale lag, but the company's internal control also exposed significant loopholes.

In August 2025, according to an administrative penalty document from the Tianjin Securities Regulatory Bureau, fund manager Li Dan was penalized for 'rat trading.'

Earlier in December 2023, according to a Beijing Securities Regulatory Bureau penalty, the company's PB Investment Department GM Hu Wenbiao was penalized for illegal stock trading and market manipulation.

Despite these issues, E Hua's return to the major shareholder and his elevation to leadership roles were unaffected. It is understood that daily work at China Life AMP involves excessive meetings and paperwork. In the company's evaluation system, making money for holders was not given due importance, deviating from the CSRC's requirements for high-quality development.

Over the past three years, the major shareholder has assigned many people to the company, occupying key positions, while the heavy work remained with market hires. This has significantly reduced the company's market orientation, resulting in severe weaknesses in research and sales capabilities.

Before 2023, China Life AMP was not like this; it had a higher degree of market orientation. The company's first GM, Zuo Jiqing, was relatively principled and upheld corporate governance.

China Life AMP was established in October 2013, co-founded by Zuo Jiqing, former GM of China Life Asset Management's Fixed Income Department, and Shen Mengyu, former deputy GM (acting) of Risk Management and Compliance, among others.

After its establishment, the company grew from scratch to a mid-sized fund company over 10 years. By end-2022, non-monetary fund scale was 128.5 billion yuan, ranking 31st in the industry, with stock funds about 7.6 billion yuan and hybrid funds about 12.8 billion yuan.

At that time, the company had high requirements for professionalism, with management largely recruited from the market, giving it strong competitiveness.

However, after the company scaled up its assets, some in the major shareholder began to covet important positions, demanding appointment by assignment. Zuo Jiqing refused such unreasonable demands and endured significant pressure.

In January 2023, GM Zuo Jiqing, Chief Inspector Shen Mengyu, Fixed Income Investment Director Dong Ruiqian, and others resigned for 'personal reasons.' After Changning state capital acquired Chunhou Fund, in January 2026, Zuo Jiqing and Shen Mengyu became GM and Deputy GM of Chunhou Fund respectively.

Over the past three years, China Life AMP's filter shattered, E Hua and others fulfilled their butterfly dreams, while founding generation like Zuo Jiqing and Shen Mengyu experienced a phoenix nirvana.

In the story of Zhuang Zhou's dream of a butterfly, Zhuang Zhou dreamed he became a butterfly, feeling carefree. Upon waking, he realized he was still Zhuang Zhou. Zhuang Zhou became a great sage because he could clearly know he was Zhuang Zhou after waking, the flying wings borrowed from the butterfly.

In real life, some people cannot distinguish between dreams and reality. Some state-owned enterprise cadres, after years of serving in enterprises, still cannot transform into competent business operators, living long in a butterfly dream, unwilling to wake up.

We sincerely hope that China Life AMP will earnestly study and grasp the connotation and essence of 'development is the hard truth,' focus on business operations, speak with performance results, and not fall into formalism. The company should quickly return to a market-oriented and international development track, abandon formalism, and not hide the truth to regress, squandering valuable development opportunities. Management should truly focus on work, ensure the preservation and appreciation of state-owned capital invested by major shareholders, and generate good returns for holders.