Life & Health NBV jumps 11.0% YoY, demonstrating significant positive results in high-quality business development
HONG KONG and SHANGHAI, Aug. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. (hereafter "Ping An" or the "Group", HKEX: 2318; SSE: 601318) today announced its 2024 interim results for the six month period ended 30 June 2024.
In the first half of 2024, China's economy was generally stable despite a complex external environment. Facing opportunities and challenges, Ping An focused on its core financial businesses, strengthened its "integrated finance + health and senior care" strategy, and improved the business quality and efficiency by providing customers with "worry-free, time-saving, and money-saving" service experience. The overall operating results remained solid, demonstrating resilience. In the first half of 2024, Ping An delivered a 16.4% annualized operating ROE, with operating profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company reaching RMB78,482 million. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company rose 6.8% year on year to RMB74,619 million. The Group's total assets grew to nearly RMB12.23 trillion as of June 30, 2024. Attaching importance to shareholder returns, Ping An will pay an interim dividend of RMB0.93 per share in cash, maintaining stable cash dividends.
Ping An delivered significant positive results in high-quality business development. Three core businesses, namely life and health insurance ("Life & Health"), property and casualty insurance ("Ping An P&C"), and banking, achieved growth and delivered RMB79,565 million in operating profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company, up 1.7% year on year. Life & Health's new business value ("NBV") grew 11.0% year on year to RMB22,320 million. Agent productivity continued to increase with NBV of the agent channel up 10.8% and NBV per agent up 36.0% year on year. Business quality improved steadily as Ping An Life recorded a material improvement in its persistency ratios with the 13-month persistency ratio rising 2.8 pps year on year. Ping An delivered excellent results in insurance funds investment, with the portfolio achieving an annualized comprehensive investment yield of 4.2% in the first half of 2024. Ping An continued to develop its "integrated finance + health and senior care" strategy. Retail customers increased to 236 million as of June 30, 2024; 24.9% of them held four or more contracts within the Group, with a retention rate of 97.8%. Over 87.92 million retail customers held multiple contracts with different subsidiaries. Customers entitled to service benefits in the health and senior care ecosystem accounted for over 68% of Ping An Life's NBV in the first half of 2024.
Top nine business highlights in 1H2024
1. Stable cash dividends amid steady business results. The Group delivered a 16.4% annualized operating ROE, with operating profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company reaching RMB78,482 million in the first half of 2024. Three core businesses, namely Life & Health, Ping An P&C, and banking, achieved growth and delivered RMB79,565 million in operating profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company, up 1.7% year on year. Attaching importance to shareholder returns, Ping An will pay an interim dividend of RMB0.93 per share in cash.
2. Life & Health grew continuously and achieved high-quality development in its agent channel. NBV amounted to RMB22,320 million in the first half of 2024, up 11.0% year on year. Agent productivity continued to increase with NBV of the agent channel up 10.8% and NBV per agent up 36.0% year on year. The number of Ping An Life's individual life insurance sales agents reached about 340,000 as of June 30, 2024.
3. Ping An P&C maintained good business quality with steady revenue growth. Ping An P&C's insurance revenue rose 3.9% year on year to RMB161,910 million in the first half of 2024. The company maintained a healthy overall combined ratio at 97.8% through enhanced business management and risk screening.
4. Ping An Bank maintained steady business performance as well as adequate capital and risk provisions. Net profit grew 1.9% year on year to RMB25,879 million in the first half of 2024. Core tier 1 capital adequacy ratio rose to 9.33% and provision coverage ratio was 264.26% as of June 30, 2024.
5. Ping An delivered excellent results in insurance funds investment. In a complex and volatile market environment, Ping An's insurance funds investment portfolio achieved an annualized comprehensive investment yield of 4.2% in the first half of 2024, up 0.1 pps year on year. The portfolio achieved a 5.4% average comprehensive investment yield over the past decade.
6. Ping An continued to develop integrated finance. Retail customers increased to 236 million as of June 30, 2024; 24.9% of them held four or more contracts within the Group, with a retention rate of 97.8%.
7. Ping An continued to implement its health and senior care ecosystem strategy, achieving significant positive results with differential advantages. By integrating providers, Ping An partnered with all top 100 hospitals and 3A hospitals, and accumulated about 50,000 in-house doctors and contracted external doctors in China as of June 30, 2024. Ping An partnered with approximately 233,000 pharmacies as of June 30, 2024, up by over 2,500 from the beginning of ...
