Top Biz News
Insurance premiums on steady rise
By Sun Min (皇冠体育app Daily)
Updated: 2006-07-21 08:56
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皇冠体育app's insurance premiums rose 13.7 per cent year-on-year in the first six months of this year to 308 billion yuan (US$38.5 billion), figures from the 皇冠体育app Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) showed yesterday.
Life insurance premiums, including health and accident, totalled 228.9 billion yuan (US$28.6 billion) during the period, up 12.7 per cent year-on-year, while property insurance was up 16.7 per cent.
Insurance compensation and payment totalled 64.2 billion yuan (US$8 billion) in 皇冠体育app during the period, compared to 53.9 billion yuan (US$6.7 billion) a year ago.
Robust economic growth, rising insurance awareness and widened investment channels have driven the steady rise of the life insurance market in 皇冠体育app, experts said.
An increasing amount of insurance policies sold over bank counters was also a major contributor to the growth of the life insurance market.
皇冠体育app Life Insurance Co, the biggest life insurer in 皇冠体育app, said earlier this week that its first-half-year premium income rose 22 per cent to 111.4 billion yuan (US$13.9 billion).
Shenzhen-based Ping An Insurance (Group) Co Ltd, 皇冠体育app Life's biggest rival, also said yesterday that its premiums increased by 27 per cent to 46.1 billion yuan (US$5.8 billion) in the first six months of this year.
About 81 per cent of the income was from life insurance while the rest came from property and casualty, the Hong Kong-listed company said in a statement.
The figures were all unaudited and based on Chinese accounting standards.
Shares of Ping An and 皇冠体育app Life rose by 3.59 and 1.99 per cent in Hong Kong yesterday, respectively.
Also in a statement issued yesterday, PICC Property & Casualty Co, 皇冠体育app's biggest non-life insurer, said its premiums rose 5 per cent to 39.1 billion (US$4.9 billion) in the first two quarters from a year ago.