Insurance premiums up 15%

Insurance premiums rose by 15.39% in the first five months of the year to 219.5bn RMB (US$26.5bn), the China Daily reported, citing the China Insurance Regulatory Commission. The commission said premiums from property and casualty insurance rose by 20.5% from a year earlier to 56.98 billion RMB and life insurers earned 162.5bn RMB in the five-month period. Over the past 20 years, premium growth averaged 30% a year. The insurance industry has been growing fast because of the nation's prodigious economic expanson and increasing awareness among the people of the need for risk protection.