PING An Insurance Group Co. of China Ltd. reported a 7.74 percent rise in net profit, its first quarterly profit increase in a year, as the country’s largest insurer by market value attracted more retail customers.

Net profit rose to 34.4 billion yuan (US$5.12 billion) in the three months to Sept. 30 from 31.9 billion yuan a year earlier, Ping An said late Tuesday.

It reported 214 million retail customers by the end of September, up 7 percent from January.

And in the first nine months of 2020, Ping An’s life and health insurance business, its main profit driver, generated 75.45 million yuan in operating profit, up 9.2 percent year on year.

However, its nine-month net profit fell 20.9 percent as COVID-19 adversely affecting its long-term protection business.

“Domestic consumption demand was still recovering, large-scale offline events were still restricted in China, and offline face-to-face meetings had not increased to pre-epidemic levels yet,” Ping An said.

In the short-term demand for insurance will still be weaker than before the epidemic, it said.

Ping An Insurance Group is the controlling shareholder of Ping An Bank, which reported a 6.1 percent rise in third-quarter net profit.

In September, it said it had become British bank HSBC Holdings’ biggest shareholder, with an 8 percent stake.

The company’s lending arm Lufax Holding Ltd., one of China’s largest online wealth management platforms, this month filed to list in the United States, aiming to raise about US$3 billion, Reuters reported.

Shanghai shares of Ping An have fallen 5.1 percent this year. The group has a market value of US$212.3 billion as of Tuesday.

(SD-Agencies)