China’s Ping An Insurance 2023 net profit falls 22.8%

PING An Insurance (Group) of China’s net profit fell 22.8 per cent year on year in 2023, the insurance giant said on Thursday (Mar 21), hit by a slowdown in its core insurance business in a tepid economy.

The group reported a net profit of 85.67 billion yuan (S$15.9 billion) for last year, versus 111.01 billion yuan in 2022. The insurer revised results for 2022 due to changes in long-term investment return assumptions and accounting rules. “China’s economy and consumption growth still faced challenges as capital markets fluctuated significantly,” the insurer said in a filing.

“Credit risk heightened, and risks in the real estate industry were still being mitigated,” it said.

Operating profits at Ping An’s life and health insurance business fell 3.2 per cent to 105.07 billion yuan, while operating profits from property and casualty insurance fell 11.4 per cent. The number of retail customers rose 2.18 per cent to 231.57 million.

The turbulence in China’s stock market last year, coupled with declining interest rates, has also clouded the investment returns of insurance companies.

Despite capital market volatility, the insurer’s insurance funds investment portfolio booked an investment yield of 3.6 per cent last year, up 0.9 percentage point from 2022.

Its banking unit, Ping An Bank, said its net profit increased 2.1 per cent year on year to 46.5 billion yuan last year. REUTERS