People's Insurance Company to intensify work on transformation project

The People's Insurance Company of China (PICC) Group will intensify work on its transformation project and continue to follow its digital strategy, said senior management Monday.

Miao Jianmin, PICC and PICC P&C chairman, said at an annual results news conference that the "3411 Project" – focusing on subsidiary transformation and future business strategies – has already brought positive results.

"By taking the social responsibility of State-owned enterprise, the group will continue to implement this project in order to achieve higher quality development in 2019," he said.

PICC Group last year posted a net profit of 12.91 billion yuan, a 19.8 percent year-on-year decrease.

PICC Property and Casualty Co Ltd or PICC P&C, a subsidiary listed on the Hong Kong bourse, reported a 21.8 percent annual drop in net profits to 15.5 billion yuan during the same period, due to declines in underwriting profit and investment income.

The group's gross written premiums meanwhile accounted for 498.61 billion yuan in 2018, up 4.7 percent compared with a year earlier.

That comprises a PICC P&C premium income of 388.77 billion yuan, up 11 percent year-on-year, along with decreases for PICC Life and PICC Health –down 11.8 percent and 23.1 percent in premium revenue to 93.73 billion yuan and 14.80 billion yuan, respectively.

"Digital strategy is the significant part of the'3411 Project', thus we have collaborated with Tencent to rebuild our basic infrastructure and improve our risk-management capability," said Shao Liduo, PICC P&C assistant president.

"We also apply big data in company operations, in a bid to embark on precision marketing and losing-user restoration."

PICC, which listed both in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, proposed a cash dividend of 0.0457 yuan per share.

Subsidiary PICC P&C, the biggest non-life insurer in China, proposed to pay a dividend of 0.272 yuan per share.

Given the net investment yield of 5.5 percent remaining flat for 2018, PICC Asset Management Company vice-chairman and president, Wang Hao, said, "We will stick with the value investing principle, eyeing long-term equity investment to offset potential risks in the secondary market."

In the process of China's opening-up, its insurance sector has long been a pioneer, Miao said.

"With the development of the financial environment, especially the new Foreign Investment Law, the Chinese insurance industry will, gradually, become more liberal going forward,"he said.

PICC has already, he said, sent teams to Belt and Road Initiative countries to cooperate with local insurers, with the aim of providing high-quality insurance services.

PICC Group's share price dropped 4.3 percent to HK$3.34, while PICC P&C fell 1.45 percent to close at HK$8.83 in Hong Kong on Monday.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index also declined 2.03 percent, or 590.01 points, to 28,523.35.