China's Insurance Co.s Post 2.7% Investment Return In Jan-sept

China's insurance companies made 135.38 billion yuan (US$21.31 billion) of income from investing insurance funds in the first nine months of the year, with an average rate of return of 2.7 per cent, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) told the China Securities Journal.

According to the newspaper report, outstanding investment funds held by insurance companies stood at 5.3 trillion yuan by the end of September, almost the same as at the end of the second quarter.

Specifically, bank deposits, bond investments, and securities investments took up 32.7 per cent, 46.2 per cent, and 12.8 per cent of the funds, respectively.

In the third quarter, China's A-share markets followed a falling trend and by the end of September the Shanghai Composite Index had declined 16 per cent since the beginning of the year, which greatly affected the return on investments of insurance capital.

Meanwhile, the market value of insurance companies also shrank and assets situation of the insurance industry deteriorated.

Since the second half of the year, as China has been facing the dual problems of a slowdown in economic growth and rising prices, the demand for insurance decreased accordingly. From January to September, the life insurance business of the industry grew just 5.7 per cent year on year, 27.5 percentage points down from last year.

It is predicted that Chinese insurers will realize total profits of 61.92 billion yuan by the end of September.