Chinese Insurers Post Falls in Premium in Second Quarter; Anbang Tops the List with a 98% Slump
Ma Yifei
DATE:  Aug 15 2017
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Chinese Insurers Post Falls in Premium in Second Quarter; Anbang Tops the List with a 98% Slump Chinese Insurers Post Falls in Premium in Second Quarter; Anbang Tops the List with a 98% Slump

(Yicai Global) Aug. 15 -- China's life insurance market has undergone a major restructuring in the first half.

Premium incomes of short- to mid-duration businesses went into freefall, despite strong growth in original gross premium (OGP). Anbang Life Insurance -- a national leader in universal life insurance -- posted a slump of over 98 percent in premium income in the second quarter.

China's life insurance companies logged total premium income of USD316.2 billion (CNY2.15 trillion) in the first half, a decline of 5.77 percent annually.

Their total OGP grew 25.98 percent per year to USD263.2 billion, but investment by policyholders and premiums received in investment-linked insurance accounts plummeted by nearly 60 percent. These two items made up merely 17 percent of the total revenue of the life insurance market, compared with the 37 percent recorded for last year.

Dramatic changes have taken place in the competitive landscape of the life insurance industry this year. Anbang slipped to third place, with a total premium income almost CNY100 billion below that of Ping An. The former leader in the universal life insurance market only yielded USD360 million (CNY2.45 billion) in premium income in the second quarter, down 98 percent. The second-quarter figure makes up merely 1.3 percent of the total premium revenue in the first half.

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Keywords:   Life Insurance,Anbang Insurance,Investment-Linked Insurance,Universal Life Insurance