China Life Insurance Company - Poor Investment return

China Life Insurance Co, the nation’s largest life insurer, said profit fell 36% in the first nine months of this year as stock-market declines and low bond yields weighed on investment returns.

Net income dropped to 35.5 billion yuan (RM23.18 billion) this year through Sept 30, from 55.5 billion yuan a year earlier, the Beijing-based company said in a statement on Thursday, based on new accounting standards effective this year. That compared with an 8% decline in the first half.

China’s equity-market rout this year and lower interest rates have weighed on insurers’ investment returns at a time when they are starting to adopt new accounting rules that better reflect market prices of assets. While premiums income has been recovering since pandemic curbs ended late last year, growth slowed in the third quarter as the surge in sales of savings products eased.