Zurich Insurance Group has named Scott Yin chief executive officer of Zurich China, subject to regulatory approval.
Yin joins from AXA Tianping, where his roles included chief actuary and chief pricing officer, and where he built the insurer’s EV Insurance Centre of Excellence. He will be based in Shanghai and report to Eric Hui, Zurich’s CEO of Greater China.
Yin will lead the next phase of growth for Zurich China’s commercial insurance business and grow its retail business. He will also work closely with Zurich Cover-More, which provides Zurich’s Travel Guard offerings in the Chinese market.
“With his track record in supporting the international expansion of Chinese businesses, and strong expertise in motor and EV pricing and underwriting, Scott will lead Zurich China through our next phase of development,” Hui said.
Yin has more than 20 years of experience in the Chinese and Australian insurance markets, with full profit-and-loss (P&L) accountability. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia and of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries in the UK.
Hui said Zurich’s global network and local presence create a platform for “easing the journey for Chinese businesses as they navigate the challenges of an increasingly competitive economy.”
Those businesses are investing abroad at record levels. Chinese engagement in Belt and Road countries reached US$213.5 billion in construction contracts and investments across about 350 deals in 2025, according to the Griffith Asia Institute. Private companies such as East Hope Group, Xinfa Group and Longi Green Energy led Belt and Road investment for the first time.
Competition for that business is growing within the region. In September 2026, Hong Kong’s Insurance Authority pitched the city as a risk adviser to mainland enterprises expanding overseas.
For brokers working with Chinese companies operating abroad, the appointment signals Zurich’s intention to compete for outbound commercial programmes, combining its international network with a chief executive who has worked directly with Chinese firms on their overseas expansion.
Yin’s EV expertise comes from the market that has done most to shape EV insurance globally. At AXA Tianping, his Centre of Excellence drew on China’s rapidly evolving EV market to speed up the development of EV insurance capabilities internationally, and he worked with Chinese insurers and automotive partners to support the overseas expansion of Chinese EV manufacturers.
The pricing challenge remains live at home. Insurers in China covered 43.6 million new energy vehicles (NEVs) in 2025, up 40%, and premiums rose 35% to CNY190 billion, according to Caixin, which describes China as the world’s largest NEV market. The average premium per vehicle fell by CNY180 to CNY4,360 (US$610), and underwriting losses narrowed to CNY5.6 billion.
Industry data put the EV combined ratio at about 105.7% for 2025, down from 109% in 2023. Swiss Re notes that several large domestic insurers have reached underwriting profit in parts of their EV insurance books, while smaller carriers with less data and pricing capability continue to struggle.
Zurich’s announcement did not set out plans for motor or EV business at Zurich China.
Read more: China motor insurance shifts attention from predicting risk to preventing it
That expertise is increasingly relevant beyond China. China exported 2.615 million NEVs in 2025, double the previous year’s total, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, and insurers in export markets are still building the claims data needed to price them. In the UK, nine of 10 major insurers approached by Carwow in early 2026 could not quote one Chinese model.
Within the region, Chinese carriers are already responding. In December 2025, Ping An P&C and Thailand’s Dhipaya Insurance signed a memorandum of understanding to co-develop extended warranty products for Chinese EVs sold in Thailand, with Howden Re arranging the reinsurance placement.
Read next: Howden backs cross-border Chinese EV warranty program in Thailand
