China Life Insurance first-half profit up by 6.9 percent to 40.9 billion yuan

China Life Insurance (2628) recorded a 6.9 percent rise in first-half net profit to 40.9 billion yuan (HK$44.45 billion), and proposed an interim dividend of 23.8 fen. 

New business value, a key metric to insurers, jumped by over 20 percent to 28.55 billion yuan in the six months. Gross written premiums saw a 7.3 percent growth to a record 525.1 billion yuan, and revenue also rose 2.2 percent to 239.5 billion yuan. 

China Life’s total assets reached nearly 7.3 trillion yuan as of the end of June. The embedded value was 1.48 trillion yuan, up by 5.5 percent from a year ago. 

Steadily advancing medium- and long-term investments in the market, the insurance giant’s scale of open market equity increased by over 150 billion yuan from the beginning of the year, and cumulative investments in private securities investment funds reached 35 billion yuan, the company said.