PICC reports 35% growth in premium income in first 8 months

BEIJING - People's Insurance Company (Group) of China (PICC) announced Tuesday that its premium income rose 35 percent year-on-year to top 170 billion yuan ($25.2 billion) in the first eight months of the year.

Further, premium income of PICC Property and Casualty rose 22.6 percent year-on-year to 105.09 billion yuan in the first eight months of the year, exceeding the company's total premium income in 2008.

PICC Life Insurance posted a 60.5 percent year-on-year increase in premium income in the first eight months of 2010, while PICC Health Insurance recorded an 85.59 percent gain in premium income during this period.

Zhou Shurui, PICC's supervisory chairman, said the company would be likely to introduce a domestic strategic investor in the fourth quarter, which would help accelerate preparation for its initial public share sale.