PING An Insurance (Group) Co of China reported on Monday (Oct 21) a 36.1 per cent rise in net profit in the first nine months of the year, driven by growing investment returns and new policies sold as the economy recovers.
The insurance company posted 119.18 billion yuan (S$22 billion) in net profit, the Chinese insurance giant said in a filing released on Monday.
“China’s economy recovered steadily in the third quarter of 2024 in the face of short-term challenges including economic restructuring, lacklustre growth momentum, and mounting external uncertainty,” Ping An said in the filing.
The group’s number of retail customers rose 3.8 per cent to 240.47 million at the end of September from the end of December, the filing showed.
Ping An’s insurance funds investment portfolio reached an annualised comprehensive investment yield of 5 per cent in the first nine months this year, up 1.3 percentage points from the same period a year ago.
New business value of life and health insurance business, which measures the profitability of new policies sold, grew 34.1 per cent year on year to 35.16 billion yuan.
Its banking unit, Ping An Bank, last week reported its third-quarter net profits fell 2.8 per cent year on year. REUTERS