PICC committed to innovation

PICC Group, one of China's largest insurance groups, will commit to a more innovation-driven business model in the future, the company's top management said on Thursday.

The group disclosed a package of 131 innovation-driven measures and mapped out schedules for each key project, which are aimed to turn the company into one of the leading innovative financial groups globally by 2025, according to Miu Jianmin, PICC Group's chairman.

"With the innovation-driven mode, PICC Group will play a bigger role in serving the country's key strategies, such as better serving the development of the real economy and consumption upgrading," Miu said.

According to the schedule, a total of 48 key projects, including smart products recommendation and insurance's intelligent implementation in social governance will be completed this year. And 45 projects, including the building up of the ecological system of auto drivers and peasants, will be done by 2020.

Miu said PICC will promote transformation through technological, service, business model and management innovation.

PICC Group has received regulatory approval to raise at least $1.6 billion through an IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, meaning the State-owned insurer will finally be able to list its shares on the mainland A-share market six years after it went public in Hong Kong. The IPO will be the largest share offering on the mainland so far this year.

With total assets of 988 billion yuan ($154 billion), PICC reported net profits of 23.8 billion yuan last year, with its property and casualty business contributing more than 80 percent, according to the company's IPO prospectus.

Wang Jiaqi contributed to this story.