BEIJING: China Life Insurance said net profit during the first quarter rose 70 percent to 12.27 billion yuan from a year back, thanks to the soaring domestic equity markets.
Operating income rose 24.9 percent to 192.62 billion yuan. Earnings per share was 43 fen. China Life has seen its profit boosted in the last year by gains on its stock investments as China’s markets soared, and from rising sales of insurance policies.
In the first quarter, investment income rose 58.8 percent thanks to stock investments. As at March 31, investment assets rose 12 percent to 2.14 trillion yuan. The net investment yield fell slightly to 4.65 percent while the gross investment yield rose by 2.6 percentage points to 7.67 percent during the three months. Premiums earned rose 16.5 percent to 150.31 billion yuan.
The surrender rate hit 3.38 percent and surrenders rose 193.4 percent due partly to more early withdrawals of bancassurance products.
