China Life share prices began to slide in value as investors expressed concern over government reports of accounting irregularities at the insurer's parent company, China Life Insurance (Group) Co.
Li Jinhua, chairman of the China National Audit Office, said that irregularities amounting to RMB 35 billion (US$4.2 billion) were discovered at China Life's parent group. Li also indicated that similar accounting problems had been discovered at several other state-owned enterprises, including Industrial Commercial Bank of China.
China Life said that its assets were unaffected by the irregularities discovered at its parent firm.