During the first seven months of the year, the total investments of Chinese insurance companies hit 1.031 trillion yuan (US$128.9 billion), up a muscular 34.77 percent on the same period last year, according to the latest statistics revealed by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC).

 

Analysts say some insurance companies are now keen to invest in China's bullish stock market, or to directly buy equity in companies not listed on the bourse.

 

The China Ping'an Insurance Company has spent 4.9 billion yuan to become a shareholder of the Shenzhen Commercial Bank, and huge dollops of insurance funds were used to buy new Bank of China and Daqin Railways shares when the two companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange this summer.

 

Chinese insurance companies channel 90 percent of their investments into low-risk fixed income assets such as treasury bonds and 10 percent into high-risk areas with floating income.

 

With Chinese law restricting insurance companies' share purchases to at most 5 percent of their assets, about 3 to 4 percent of total insurance capital has been injected into the stock market.

 

The total premium revenue of China's insurance industry hit 342.43 billion yuan in the January-July period, an increase of 13.3 percent on the same period last year.

 

In June, premium revenue of property insurance and life insurance were up respectively 40.8 percent and 29.7 percent on the May figures, but they took a tumble in July, dropping back 50.67 percent and 38.17 percent on the June figures.

 

Analysts say the big ups and downs in premium revenue are related to seasonal factors, such as staff working for companies, especially foreign-financed firms, which usually go on vacation in July and August.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 23, 2006)