Chinese insurers Q1 profits reach 8.58 bln yuan

Chinese insurers post a total profit of 8.583 billion yuan in the first quarter, China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) disclosed.

China Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (LFC.NYSE; 2628.HK; 601628.SH), Ping An Insurance Co., Ltd. (601318. SH, 2318.HK) and China Pacific Insurance Co., Ltd. (CPIC, 601601.SH), China's three insurance heavyweights, reported a net profit of 7.235 billion yuan in the first quarter

Property insurance companies are expected to post profits of 270 million yuan by the end of March, dropping 5.198 billion yuan year on year; life insurance companies are expected to realize 7.884 billion yuan in profit, adding 210 million yuan atop the same time last year.

In the first quarter, China achieved premiums of 327.67 billion yuan, up 10 percent year on year. Further, insurers paid compensation totaling 82.36 billion yuan, falling 2.4 percent year on year.

By the end of March, insurers' total assets rose 6 percent from the beginning of this year to 3.5 trillion yuan.

Yuan Li, spokesperson for CIRC, said the structure of life insurance business improved during the first quarter, with the proportion of investment-linked and universal insurance business dropping 14.8 percent year on year.

He also said that CIRC supports insurance companies in investing into and establishing medical institutions, in accordance with China's new medical care reform scheme.

CIRC will encourage insurers to found basic medical management services, promote medical insurance and support insurance institutions in participating in the reorganization of current medical institutions. Enditem

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