Chinese insurers collect $226b in premiums

BEIJING - Insurance companies in China reaped 1.43 trillion yuan ($226.4 billion) of premiums last year, up 10.4 percent year-on-year, according to data from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) on Saturday.

"Despite the steady growth, the insurance industry is still facing deeply-rooted problems that need to be addressed quickly," said CIRC chairman Xiang Junbo at a national insurance work conference in Beijing.

Xiang noted that the insurance sector's extensive pattern of development that relies too much on gross premiums growth with too few products has to be changed.

The current pattern of growth has failed to satisfy the demand of the public, Xiang said, urging more innovations in insurance product design and service.

According to CIRC, assets of the country's insurance companies totaled 5.9 trillion yuan at the end of last year, compared with 5 trillion yuan in 2010.

In breakdown of premiums, property premiums rose 18.5 percent to 461.79 billion yuan while life insurance premiums added only 6.8 percent to 969.98 billion yuan last year.

Insured customers' claims amounted to 391.02 billion yuan last year.