(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-07-25 17:08

In the first six months of this year, China's insurance industry witnessed a 20.7-percent rise in premiums to 371.8 billion yuan (US$49.2 billion). Equity investment accounted for as much as 11.76 percent of total insurance capital, said Yuan Li, assistant to chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC).

Three types of insurance contributed to the premium increase in the first half of this year. Property insurance increased by 37.1 percent to 108.4 billion yuan from a year earlier, life insurance grew 16.7 percent to 235 billion yuan, and accident insurance jumped by 17.7 percent to 9.5 billion.

Although health insurance reported making 2.7 percent less than the same period last year due to a change in statistical methods, total assets of the insurance industry grew by 20.2 percent or 426.4 billion yuan to 2.53 trillion yuan at the end of June.

According to Yuan, in an increasing trend insurance assets are diversifying their investment channels. Last year, insurance capital invested reached 2.31 trillion yuan, 2.6 times the profits of a year earlier to 137.4 billion yuan as insurance firms shifted part of their capital from bank deposits and bonds to the stock market.

At the end of the first quarter, CIRC announced 18.3 percent of insurance capital was invested in either the stock market or securities-related funds. The figure increased to 19.47 percent in late June, with 11.76 percent of that in the stock market and the remaining 7.71 percent in securities-related funds.

Although CIRC lifted the cap on the insurance funds invested in A-share market from 5 percent to 10 percent, the limit for total equity investment still stands at 20 percent.

Fixed asset investment accounted for 77.82 percent of the total insurance capital, of which bank deposits, bonds, financial bonds, and corporate debts accounted for 32.66 percent, 15.78 percent, 19.82 percent, and 9.56 percent respectively.

In the first six months, five domestic and three foreign funded insurance firms were approved by CIRC. At the end of June, in the Chinese insurance industry, there were 56 Chinese insurance companies, eight insurance group and holding companies, nine insurance assets management companies, and 128 insurance operation outlets of 45 foreign insurers from 15 countries and regions.