BEIJING - China's insurance premium income continued steady growth, with a 28.9 percent year-on-year rise in the first 11 months of 2016, according to the country's top insurance regulator.

Premium income reached 2.9 trillion yuan ($416 billion) during the January-November period, according to the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC).

Growth slightly retreated from the 30.4 percent rise in the first ten months.

Premium income of life insurance companies climbed 33.1 percent to hit 1.66 trillion yuan. Property insurance companies' premium income rose 8.7 percent to 777 billion yuan.

By the end of November, the industry had combined assets totalling 15 trillion yuan, up 21 percent from the beginning of the year.