PICC Property & Casualty Jan.-Oct. Premium Up 17%

BEIJING, Nov 12, 2009 (SinoCast Daily Business Beat via COMTEX) --

PICC Property & Casualty Co., Ltd. (SEHK: 2328), a non-life insurance company in China, pulled in CNY 103.209 billion in original premium revenue by October end, up 16.77 percent from CNY 88.386 billion a year earlier, in terms of the Chinese accounting standards, according to an announcement it filed with the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.

Wang Xiaogang, a senior insurance analyst with Orient Securities, attributed the premium income growth to the recovery of the Chinese auto market. Auto sales heated up on boosting policies and that drove up auto insurance sales, the premium income growth of insurance firms has been giving back therefore. Moreover, huge state investments also brought considerable amounts of premium revenue in non-auto insurances like that for construction projects.

Credit Suisse, a giant financial institution worldwide, said in a recent report that it maintained rating on the Hong Kong-traded insurer at "Underperform" although it is stable in performance.