Ping An to introduce new products this year

Ping An Insurance (Group) Co of China, the world’s second-largest life insurer by market value, will increase the fixed-income products in its investment portfolio this year, its chief investment officer said on Friday. “This year we will keep to our strategy of increasing our holdings of fixed income products,” Timothy Chan said at a briefing, adding that he didn’t see much room for interest rate movement. Chan’s remarks reflects Ping An’s concerns over the volatility of China’s stock market, which hurt the firm’s investment yields last year. Ping An, which last year invested 58.2 per cent of its assets in bonds and 8.6 per cent in stocks, posted a 12.5 per cent rise in net profit in 2011 after growth in its banking business offset lower investment returns. Profit contribution from Ping An’s banking business nearly trebled to 7.98 billion yuan ($1.26 billion) in 2011, when the insurer, aiming to become a financial conglomerate, completed its acquisition of Shenzhen Development Bank. Total investment yields fall to 4 per cent from 4.9 per cent in 2010 as Ping An suffered from a stock market that slumped 22 per cent last year, it said in its earnings report on Thursday.