China Life Insurance off to premium start

China Life Insurance (Group) Co recorded a good start with the start of China's 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) by realizing operating income of 638.1 billion yuan ($98.70 billion) and premium income of 518.2 billion yuan in the first half of this year.

Third-party assets under management of China Life reached 1.9 trillion yuan, said Wang Bin, chairman of the large State-owned financial insurance corporation in China, at its mid-year work conference on Thursday.

The group, which is the majority shareholder of China Guangfa Bank Co Ltd, contributed to the country's coordinated regional development strategy by granting 898.80 billion yuan of credit to core regions, including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Yangtze River Delta region.

In the first half of this year, the group's new investments exceeded 260 billion yuan to better serve the real economy, the part of the economy that produces goods and services. Its new green investments – investment activities which focus on the projects that are committed to energy saving and environmental protection – reached 13 billion yuan, and the outstanding balance of its green lending was 38.5 billion yuan.

At the same time, the group strictly adhered to the bottom line of being free of systemic risks, improved its internal control and compliance management, and strengthened the construction of network security system.

In the second half, China Life will continue to step up risk prevention and control in key areas, accelerate its digital transformation and online product innovation, and upgrade its product and service system by placing greater emphasis on healthcare services, elderly care services, social governance services and inclusive finance services, in addition to relevant insurances in corresponding fields, Wang said.