Ping An has announced its Q3 2022 results, saying that it saw a growth in operating profit of 3.8% during the period.
The firm said that global capital markets remained volatile in a complex, challenging international environment in the third quarter of 2022. Domestic economic growth faced three headwinds, namely declining demand, supply chain disruption, and weakening confidence amid sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks. Household consumption recovery still faced many challenges, which continued to have an impact on its long-term protection insurance business.
The firm said it had delivered a 19.9% annualized operating ROE, with operating profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company rising 3.8% year on year to RMB123,288m in the first nine months of 2022. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company decreased 6.3% year on year to RMB76,463m.
In addition, the board of directors held a meeting on 26 October and resolved to appoint Zhang Zhichun as the chief financial officer of the group. The appointment shall become effective upon the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission’s approval. Yao Jason Bo will cease to be the chief financial officer of the group and will continue to serve as the executive director, co-chief executive officer, and executive vice president of the group.
According to the announcement, Zhang joined Ping An in 1998 and served as head of finance, planning, and investment for Ping An P&C.
The firm also said that China’s life insurance sector faced many internal and external challenges due to domestic sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks and complex, changing economic circumstances in the first nine months of 2022.
It said in a statement: “Despite the challenges, Ping An Life continued to advance the “channel + product” reform under the value-oriented philosophy, promoting the high-quality development of multiple channels and developing specialized products and services. Operating profit of the life and health insurance business rose 17.4% year on year to RMB86,486m in the first nine months of 2022. NBV of Life & Health fell 26.6% year on year to RMB25,848m in the first nine months of 2022. If the NBV for the first nine months of 2021 were restated using the assumptions and method employed at the end of 2021, the NBV of L&H for the first nine months of 2022 would decline 18.9% year on year. Business quality continued to improve, with 13-month persistency ratio of insurance policies up year on year.”
