Ping An Insurance's H1 net profit shrinks 29.7%

Gross written premiums dropped 0.2% YoY.

China’s Ping An Insurance reported a 29.7% fall in H1 net profit to $9.98b (CNY68.68b) as the pandemic hit new insurance sales, reports Reuters.

That compares to $14.2b (CNY97.68b) over the same period in 2019, which marks the biggest drop in first-half earnings since at least 2008, when they fell 11.9% in the first half of that year.

Gross written premiums fell 0.2% YoY to $64.8b (CNY445.5b) whilst the number of retail customers increased 4.6% from the beginning of 2020 to 210 million.

Investment income fell 16.7% to $11.4b (CNY78.21b) with a 1.1pp cut in annualised yield, driven by “sharp year-on-year capital markets fluctuations”, the company said. Banking business profit slipped 11.2% as it hiked loan loss provisions.

Here’s more from Reuters.