Top Biz News

China Life posts big jump in premiums

(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2007-01-15 08:55

China Life Insurance Co's insurance income rose 31 percent to 209.7 billion yuan (US$27 billion) in 2006 from a year ago, Reuters reported.

Yang Chao, China Life's president, said the insurer boosted its market share by seven percentage points and increased total assets to 910 billion yuan from 521.8 billion yuan last year, the news agency reported, citing Financial News, a Chinese mainland newspaper.

China Life's yuan-denominated shares more than doubled on their first day of trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Tuesday. Investors ordered 49 times the stock offered, reflecting demand for shares of large Chinese companies in a domestic market that has doubled to record levels in the past year, Bloomberg News said.

The company raised 28.3 billion yuan selling 1.5 billion shares on the mainland last month.

Cutbacks in welfare benefits and rising wealth are spurring more of the nation's 1.3 billion people to buy protection and investment products.

China Life, the mainland's biggest insurer, first sold shares in 2003 in Hong Kong and New York.