The gross assets owned by China's insurance sector reached a record high of 1.0806 trillion yuan (US$131.7 billion) at the end of June, up 18.45 percent over the end of last year, official figures show.

According to the figures released Thursday by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), the national insurance watchdog, the amount of disposal capital of the country's fledging insurance sector stood at 973.1 billion yuan (US$118.6 billion).

Of the capital, 519.3 billion yuan (US$63.3 billion) was invested as bank deposits, 53.37 percent of the total. Meanwhile, 69.19 billion yuan (US$8.42 billion), or 7.11 percent of the capital, was invested in securities and funds. This is up 49.35 percent from the end of last year.

Analysts say the figures indicate that China's insurance industry has entered a new phase of development, which is featured by fast growth and rapid expansion of premium revenue.

The insurance sector posted 237.35 billion yuan (US$28.9 billion) in insurance premium revenues for the first half of this year, up 10.18 percent year-on-year.

Of the total premium revenue, property premium revenue totaled 58.6 billion yuan (US$7.1 billion), up 22.99 percent. Life insurance premium stood at 178.75 billion yuan (US$21.7 billion), up 6.5 percent.

Revenue from car insurance premiums grew by 33.59 percent due to brisk car sales in the first half of this year, which accounted for 67.22 percent of property insurance revenue.

Premiums in China's insurance industry totaled 338.04 billion yuan (US$40.87 billion) in 2003, a year-on-year increase of 27.1 percent. The industry's total assets were worth 912.28 billion yuan (US$110.31 billion) by the end of the year.

(Xinhua News Agency July 23, 2004)