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Insurance sector Q1 investment returns hit 1.2%

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-23 14:27

Chinese insurance companies earned a combined 31.13 billion yuan ($4.46 billion) from their investment activities in the three months to March, for a return of 1.2 percent, regulators said.

Yuan Li, a spokesman for the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), said at a news briefing that the insurance sector deployed 13.1 percent of its investment portfolio in stocks, while stock funds accounted for 8.3 percent.

The sector also invested 16.0 percent and 49.4 percent in deposits and bonds, respectively.

Investment returns in 2007 were 10.9 percent, according to the CIRC.

The insurance sector generated premium income of 297.91 billion yuan in the first quarter, up 51.6 percent, Yuan said.

Property insurance premium income totaled 64.15 billion yuan, up 24.6 percent, while premium income from life insurance rose 62.1 percent to 213.06 billion yuan, he said.

Premium income from health and accident insurance rose 66.3 percent and 26.3 percent respectively, to 15.14 billion yuan and 5.56 billion.

The insurance sector had assets of 2.94 trillion yuan at the end of March, up 1.5 percent from the beginning of the year, Yuan added.