Major insurers' earnings take a beating

China's largest insurance companies posted a hefty loss in their third-quarter reports yesterday, due to a slump in investment returns after the country's stock market plummeted nearly 70 percent so far this year.

China Life, the country's biggest life insurer, saw its net profit for the third quarter drop 46.91 percent year-on-year to 2.34 billion yuan. Its earnings per share (EPS) fell 46.91 percent to 0.08 yuan, the company said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday.

Ping An, the country's second largest insurer, reported a loss of 534 million yuan in the first three quarters, after allowing for impairment provisions on its investment in troubled Belgian-Dutch financial group Fortis. The company has invested 23.87 billion yuan in Fortis shares since November last year and suffered a loss of 18.6 billion yuan by Sept 30.