- Investment returns hit by stock market volatility
- Operating profit up 7.6% on-year in three months ended March 31
- NBV in life and health insurance up 20.8% on-year
BEIJING/SHANGHAI, April 28 (Reuters) - China's Ping An Insurance reported a 7.4% year-on-year fall in net profit in the first quarter, dragged down by weaker investment returns amid equity market volatility.
The insurance company posted net profit of 25.022 billion yuan ($3.66 billion) in the three months ended March 31, down from 27.016 billion yuan a year earlier, a filing on Tuesday showed.
Operating profit, which strips out short-term investment volatility and one-time items, rose 7.6% in the quarter.
"China's economy still faced challenges as the imbalance between strong supply and weak demand remained to be resolved and the foundation for economic recovery still needed to be consolidated," Ping An said in the filing.
There were many uncertainties in the external environment amid rising geopolitical risks, it added.
New business value (NBV) in its life and health insurance segment, which measures the profitability of new policies sold, jumped 20.8% year-on-year to 15.574 billion yuan.
The NBV growth came as maturing bank deposits flowed into insurance products coinciding with the insurer's traditional first quarter sales campaign.
The number of retail customers rose 0.2% year-to-date to 251.55 million by end-March, the filing showed.
Investment income posted 7.492 billion yuan losses in the first quarter, compared to a gain of 10.44 billion yuan in the same period of 2025, the filing showed.
Ping An's insurance funds investment portfolio achieved an unannualised comprehensive investment yield of 0.2% in the first three months, down 1.1 percentage points year-on-year, it said.
The insurer's investment returns were hit by stock market turbulence, with China's blue-chip CSI300 Index declining 3.9% in the first quarter.
Banking unit Ping An Bank on Friday reported its net profit in the first quarter rose 3% year-on-year.
($1 = 6.8364 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Reporting by Ziyi Tang and Engen Tham; Editing by Kate Mayberry
Source: Reuters