Growth of insurance premiums in China slowed down for the first three quarters of the year, following a wide-reaching regulatory crackdown on risky and aggressive investment behaviour of several insurers.

For January to September 2017, overall insurance premiums in China grew by 21% to RMB3 trillion (US$453 billion), compared to a 32% growth rate during the same period last year, according to the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC).

Over the past few months, the CIRC worked to curb the excessive use of short-term and risky universal life products. Several insurance firms were penalised for irregularities involving shareholder equities, internal controls, and transactions with related parties.

Outstanding investments by insurers were at RMB14.6 trillion as of end-September, 9.38% higher than at the start of the year, CIRC official Duan Haizhou was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Duan added that nine-month investment yields were at 4.05%, higher by 0.1% percentage points than last year’s figure. Meanwhile, nine-month profits were at RMB185.7 billion (US$27.96 billion), 18.31% higher than last year.

Insurers’ total assets were at RMB16.58 trillion (US$2.5 trillion) for the first nine months of the year, 9.69% higher than at the start of the year.


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