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China Life Insurance Co. Ltd said that its net profit for 2018’s first quarter more than doubled year-on-year, with the insurance powerhouse also anticipating strong returns on its investments.
Net profit for the first three months of the year was at RMB13.52 billion (US$2.14 billion), up from RMB6.15 billion a year earlier, reported Wall Street Journal. According to China Life, it had updated its expectations for returns on its traditional insurance contracts, but it did not elaborate further.
Premium income from insurance policies decreased 1.9% to RMB235.55 billion (US$37.25 billion).
Major Chinese insurers are facing difficulty in the face of the yuan’s recovery against the US dollar. Many mainland investors saw insurance as a tool to hedge against the Chinese currency’s depreciation, but recent trends have made it less appealing.
Meanwhile, Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China posted an 11.5% increase in net profit for the first quarter of 2018, on the back of strong premium growth.
From January to March 2018, the insurer had a net profit of RMB25.7 billion (US$4.06 billion), up from RMB23.05 billion during the same period last year, Reuters reported.
Ping An announced last month that its annual profit had beaten forecasts, thanks to strong sales of its life insurance product.
