best insurance stock - China Life Insurance expanding business 2013 : China Life Insurance Co. (LFC) will primarily focus on expanding its life insurance business this year despite growing pressure due to slower sales in the sector , President Yang Mingsheng said Thursday.
The company will also eye investment opportunities in state-backed projects in regions like the Yangtze River Delta and the Zhujiang Delta , Mr. Yang said at a press briefing after the company reported a 40% drop in 2012 net profit late Wednesday , citing a "decline in investment yield" and an "increase in impairment losses resulting from continued weakness in capital markets."
Net profit for the 12 months ended Dec. 31 was 11.06 billion yuan ($1.78 billion) compared with CNY18.33 billion a year earlier , China's top life insurer by premiums said.
Mr. Yang also said bancassurance sales are likely to continue falling this year as insurers face increasing competition from bank products such as high-yield wealth management products.
China Life's vice president Liu Jiade said local stock markets may see some improvement this year , which would help improve the company's investment yield as well as bring down impairment losses.
Investment income for 2012 rose to CNY80.01 billion from CNY64.82 billion , while investment yield fell to 2.79% from 3.51% , and impairment losses more than doubled to CNY31.05 billion from CNY12.94 billion , it said late Wednesday.