PING An Insurance Group Co. of China, the country’s largest insurer by market value, yesterday reported its biggest half-yearly profit in at least a decade on robust customer growth.

The results underline strength in Ping An’s business versus smaller players, amid a sector-wide crackdown on risk that has led to China’s chief insurance regulator being investigated for graft and others being reprimanded for overseas acquisitions.

For the six months ended June, its net profit was 58.10 billion yuan (US$8.45 billion), up 34 percent from a year ago, according to a stock exchange filing. This was its best half-yearly performance since at least 2007.

Its gross written premiums grew 20 percent to 408.19 billion yuan, from 341.39 billion yuan in the year-ago period.

A rise in customer numbers and products held per client contributed strongly to the insurer’s underlying strength.

Retail customers grew 25.2 percent in the first half year on year, hitting 179 million, with each customer holding 2.39 contracts on average, up 4.8 percent.

Ping An, one of nine insurers globally and the only Asian one designated as a systemically important insurer by global regulators, is benefiting from its diverse revenue sources such as asset management and banking.

Net profit for Ping An’s life and health business rose 43.3 percent to 33.79 billion yuan.

Ping An’s Good Doctor online health care platform raised US$1.12 billion in its listing late April, pricing its shares at the top of its range, in what was Hong Kong’s largest float for the year at the time.

Profit from Ping An’s banking arm came in at 13.4 billion yuan in the first half, up 6.5 percent.

Ping An Bank, like others in the industry, has been shifting to retail banking in an attempt to bolster returns as corporate loans become more risky. (SD-Agencies)