|
BIZCHINA> Top Biz News
![]() |
|
China Life raises equity investments as market rallies
(China Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-26 13:51 China Life Insurance Co, the nation's largest insurer, increased equities holdings in its investment portfolio in the first quarter as the stock market rebounded, Vice President Liu Jiade said. The company also raised holdings of higher-yielding bonds and term deposits, Liu said at the annual general meeting in Beijing yesterday. Fixed-income investments "remained above 80 percent" of the insurer's portfolio at the end of March. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index has rallied more than 40 percent this year amid optimism that government measures including a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package will stem a slowdown in the world's third-largest economy, boosting insurers' investment returns. China Life's profit rose 55 percent in the first quarter, after a 45 percent decline last year when the domestic stock market tumbled. "The weighting of equity investments increased to a certain degree and was still in the process of changing as of the end of April," said Liu without giving a figure. Profit for 2009 will be "more worth anticipating than last year." Ten-year regular premiums rose by 50 percent in the first quarter, and the pace picked up further in April, President Wan Feng said yesterday. Total premium income fell by 2 percent to 126 billion yuan in the first four months as the company boosted sales of longer-term products. Landscape 'Revised' The company will step up marketing efforts in bigger mainland cities this year to bolster a declining market share, Wan said. The Beijing-based insurer won't make "massive" forays into the nation's rural areas because the costs are high, he added. The landscape of the mainland's insurance industry will be "revised" this year as a result of the regulator's efforts to curb sales of investment-type products and a proposed change in accounting rules that will exclude parts of policy sales from premium income, Wan said.
China Insurance Regulatory Commission banned sales of investment-linked insurance products at bank counters designed for depositors from March 15, to curb misguidance that had led to consumer complaints and after high commissions squeezed insurers' margins. "Many" life insurers will face a decline or no growth in premium income this year, Wan said. (For more biz stories, please visit Industries)
|
神农架林区| 长阳| 刚察县| 岳池县| 德州市| 关岭| 佛山市| 杨浦区| 城市| 渝北区| 东乌珠穆沁旗| 永和县| 台江县| 五常市| 黔西县| 曲阳县| 修武县| 镇坪县| 达拉特旗| 平乐县| 黔南| 潜山县| 高州市| 托里县| 永吉县| 民县| 南丹县| 共和县| 泽州县| 漳平市| 化州市| 万盛区| 临泽县| 木里| 吕梁市| 土默特右旗| 濮阳市| 神农架林区| 安康市| 尼勒克县| 顺义区|