Ping An says strong policy, talent to help firm through outbreak

Ping An Insurance (Group) Co Ltd, China's largest insurer, said the prudent policy it has been adopting and its experienced talent team will help the company pull through the current difficulty caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak.

"We have been adopting a prudent policy in risk management, whether for Ping An Bank, Ping An Puhui or our investment portfolio," Xie Yonglin, the group's president and co-CEO, said on Friday during its annual results announcement.

"Meanwhile, we have a strong international team with sophisticated experience in dealing with market risk and credit risk...Therefore, the impact of the epidemic on our business is manageable."

The group reported 149.41 billion yuan ($21 billion) in net profit in 2019, growing 39.1 percent compared with a year earlier.

Revenue generated from the technology business increased 27.1 percent year-on-year to 82.11 billion yuan.

Ping An is pouring great resources into the technological development, aiming to turn itself into a technology-driven financial conglomerate.

"Our investment into technology has shown a positive effect during the epidemic outbreak," Xie said, noting that business of Ping An Good Doctor, its online medical service platform, grew more than 10 times compared to the past.

Although the coronavirus outbreak has dealt a blow to the development of new business for life insurance and loans, as millions of people are confined at home, the situation will improve greatly when it is over, Xie said.

"If we see the situation in 2003 when SARS broke out, consumption rebounded sharply after the epidemic was gone and there was also large demand for loans. In terms of insurance business, demand for life and health insurance is expected to have an explosive growth."