Ping An Insurance profit rises 62% on investment gains
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(Reuters) — China's Ping An Insurance Co. of China Ltd. reported a 62% increase in first-half profit Thursday, boosted by gains from stock investments and booming sales of life insurance products.
Ping An, China's second-largest insurer by market value, had last month signaled the likely sharp profit rise, due to growth across its business segments and better investment returns from its stock portfolio.
Profit for six months to June 30 reached 34.65 billion yuan ($5.42 billion), up from 21.3 billion yuan ($3.43 billion) a year earlier, Ping An said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
The profit gains were largely due to the fact that Chinese insurers can book gains in their investment portfolios as profit. Despite the market's plunge in June, China's benchmark Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 index is still up 6.5% in the year to date.
The improved performance also came from stronger sales of life insurance products, as Ping An bolstered its vast network of sales agents by 25% from the start of the year to nearly 800,000 agents in total.
Tianjin claims
The performance of Chinese insurers in the second half of the year could be affected by claims from last week's deadly explosions in the Chinese port of Tianjin, analysts and ratings agencies have said.
Ping An did not mention the Tianjin blast in its earnings report. But Ping An's property/casualty insurance unit, which accounts for 15% of the group's earnings, is among those facing exposure to claims from the devastating Tianjin explosions.
Ping An Property & Casualty has received 524 property insurance claims related to the Tianjin blast, Credit Suisse Group A.G. said Thursday, citing Chinese media reports.
Credit Suisse analysts estimated that total losses for Chinese insurers could amount to $1 billion to $1.5 billion, basing their calculations on Chinese media reports, but Fitch Ratings Inc. said the bill could be higher.
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Ping An Insurance profit jumps 39% on investment gains
(Reuters) — Ping An Insurance Group Co. of China Ltd., Asia's second-largest insurer by market value, posted a better-than-expected 39.5% rise in annual profits on Thursday as investment income soared on the back of China's rising stock markets.
