China's insurance firms' record growth likely hard to maintain

Interim reports released by Ping An Insurance, China Life Insurance, China Taiping Insurance in others in the industry showed profit growth ranging from 62.2% to 202.1% for the first half of the year, South China Morning Post reported. “The gold rush in the [mainland] stock market in the first six months has effectively pushed up companies’ revenue and profits,” said Dayton Wang, an insurance analyst at Guotai Junan International. “But I doubt they can maintain that growth momentum in a market hit by major corrections.” Wang said further rate cuts from the central bank would also make it difficult for insurers to achieve high interest and reinvestment income.