Yuan world’s 8th most-used payment currency

    CHINA’S yuan fell back behind the Swiss franc to rank as the eighth most-used world payment currency in February, likely due to the seasonal effect of the Chinese New Year, global transaction service organization SWIFT said yesterday.

    The yuan saw its market share rise to 1.42 percent in February, the highest on record. Yet, it was 0.03 percentage points lower than the Swiss franc, which it surpassed in January.

    Everbright Securities profit falls 79%

    EVERBRIGHT Securities Co. said yesterday that 2013 net profit fell 79 percent from a year earlier due to investment losses from a trading glitch and regulatory fines.

    Net profit was 205.8 million yuan (US$33.2 million), down from 1 billion yuan a year earlier, China’s ninth-largest brokerage by assets said in its audited annual earnings report to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Revenue rose 10 percent to 4.02 billion yuan from 3.65 billion yuan. Everbright on Aug. 16 accidentally placed 23.4 billion yuan worth of buy orders on exchange-traded funds linked to blue chips, of which 7.27 billion yuan worth of orders went through. That sent the benchmark Shanghai index up 5.6 percent in minutes, before ending the day with a loss. It reduced its position by 1.89 billion yuan in the afternoon.

    China Life profit jumps 124%

    CHINA Life Insurance Co.’s net profit more than doubled in 2013, boosted by higher investment gains and growth in premiums, it said yesterday.

    Net profit in 2013 was 24.77 billion yuan (US$4.03 billion), up 124 percent from 11.06 billion yuan in the previous year, China’s largest life insurer by premiums said. Profit growth last year reversed a 40 percent drop in 2012 that was the result of a decline in investment yield and an increase in impairment losses that resulted from capital markets weakness.

    AgBank posts weakest profit since IPO

    AGRICULTURAL Bank of China Ltd. (AgBank) yesterday reported its weakest annual profit growth since it launched its initial public offering (IPO) in 2010, showing the effects of China’s slower economic growth and deepening financial reforms that narrowed the lenders’ net interest margin.

    China’s third-largest bank by assets said its net profit for 2013 was up 15 percent from a year earlier to 166.32 billion yuan (US$27.3 billion), though the growth was below its pace of around 20 percent in recent years.