China insurers' premium income growth slows amid regulatory crackdown

World
Europe

Premium income growth at China's insurers slowed in the first half of the year to 23% from 37% a year ago, the country's insurance regulator said on Thursday, as a crackdown on leverage in the financial sector began to bite.

China's big insurers have attracted regulatory attention for their aggressive acquisitions of overseas assets, while using client money derived from high-yield investment products sold to consumers, leading to calls for self-discipline and a wider sweep of the financial system to reduce risk and deviance.

Financial giant Anbang Insurance Group, whose chairman was detained in June, has been one of the largest insurers caught in the crackdown's crosshairs.

VCG Photo

Insurance industry profits grew 10.03% year-on-year to 116.1 billion yuan (17.26 billion US dollars) in the first half of 2017, said an official with the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) at a press conference in Beijing.

Total premium income over the January-June period rose 23% to 2.31 trillion yuan, from 1.88 trillion yuan in the same period a year ago.

On Anbang, the CIRC official said that, contrary to what media reports suggest, the regulator had no plans to ask the company to sell its overseas assets.

Total investments by Chinese insurers were at 14.5 trillion yuan as of end-June, up 8.28% from start of this year. Their yield was 2.62% over the period.

(Source: Reuters)

4km