OREANDA-NEWS. November 02, 2012. The ninth session of the Board of Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. (hereafter “Ping An” or “the Group”, HKEX: 2318; SSE: 601318) today held its third meeting in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Presided by Dr. Peter Ma, Group Chairman, the meeting reviewed and approved the unaudited Group results for the nine months ended September 30, 2012, reported the press-centre of Ping An.

In the third quarter of 2012, amidst a complex economic environment, the Group managed its business with a steady hand and met the challenges head-on, working towards full implementation of its integrated financial model of “one customer, one account, multiple products, and one-stop services”. This ensured the healthy and sustainable growth of all business units, and helped the Group to achieve growth in operating results despite adverse market conditions. As a result, net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company in the first three quarters of 2012 was RMB16,085 million, an increase of 10.8% over the same period last year.

Maintained overall growth in adverse market conditions

As at September 30, 2012, total assets of the Group amounted to RMB2,630,601 million, up 15.1% over the beginning of 2012. Equity attributable to shareholders of the parent company amounted to RMB146,198 million, growing 11.7% over the beginning of 2012. In a complex and challenging operating environment, net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company in the first three quarters of 2012 was RMB16,085 million, an increase of 10.8% over the same period last year. Net profit in the third quarter was lower than that in the preceding two quarters, mainly due to higher losses from investment s and impairment from continued weakness in the capital markets.

Insurance business maintained stable and healthy growth

For the nine months ended September 30, 2012, the Group’s life insurance business continued its steady growth momentum, with written premiums in the first three quarters at RMB157,568 million. Of this, written premiums from the more profitable individual life insurance business accounted for RMB138,709 million, up 9.8% over the same period last year.
Leveraging its increasingly professionalized operations and advanced service standards, Ping An Property & Casualty achieved stable growth and recorded premium income of RMB73,887 million in the first three quarters, representing an increase of 20.0% over the same period last year. Market share reached 17.8%, a 0.4 percentage point increase over the end of last year. The annuity business also maintained healthy growth, with both assets under investment management and assets entrusted retaining their leading positions in the market.

Stable growth in banking business with smooth integration

With the official inauguration of “Ping An Bank Co., Ltd.”, the Group’s banking business entered a new phase of development. The banking business contributed a profit of RMB5,246 million to the Group in the first three quarters of the year. Total assets of the bank amounted to RMB1.5 trillion, while total deposits amounted to RMB935,397 million, an increase of 9.9% over the end of 2011.The credit card business continued to grow rapidly. The number of newly issued credit cards in the first three quarters exceeded 3 million, bringing the total number of credit cards in circulation to 10.48 million. In the interbank business, innovations and service enhancement were made to wealth management products, foreign exchange and precious metals, generating more earnings for the bank’s fee-based business.

Rapid growth in personal wealth management business of Ping An Trust; investment banking business of Ping An Securities maintained leadership

Ping An Trust won the “China Best Trust Company” award for the fourth consecutive year, while its personal wealth management business maintained a rapid growth pace. At the end of the third quarter, the number of high net worth customers exceeded 17,000, up 33.6% over the end of 2011. Assets held in trust amounted to RMB231,515 million, up 18.0% over the end of 2011. The securities business was affected by the macroeconomic environment both at home and abroad, which resulted in a substantial fall in stocks issued in the primary market compared with the same period last year even as bond issuances rose. In the first three quarters, Ping An Securities successfully sponsored 16 stock projects and 31 bond projects as lead underwriter, ranked third in terms of the total number of deals for both.

Looking into the coming quarter, Dr. Peter Ma, Chairman of Ping An, said, “The current global economy remains complex and volatile. Global economies and capital markets remain volatile while China’s economic growth continues to slow. The structural problems of the economy are also gradually manifesting themselves, along with unfavorable factors such as increased business operation costs. These have added pressure to the economy and presented formidable challenges to the development of the financial industry. Consequently, the overall growth of the insurance industry will slow, the competition in the banking industry will continue to be intense, and the capital markets are expected to remain volatile.

“The Company will pay close attention to the economy and market trends as it continues to adopt prudent and stable development strategies. We will continue to follow our overarching strategy and plans and leverage the advantages of integrated financial services to maintain healthy growth in areas such as insurance, banking and investment. We will also continue to optimize our business structure, deploy new profit growth points, and constantly strengthen the Group’s core competencies, laying a better foundation for sustainable growth in the future and creating more value for our shareholders and customers.”