Net profit of Ping An surges 68.1% in H1

Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China saw its net profit surge 68.1 percent year on year to hit 97.6 billion yuan (US$13.8 billion) in the first half.

From January to June, the Shenzhen-based financial conglomerate made an operating profit of 73.4 billion yuan, up 23.8 percent compared with a year ago. Net profit attributable to shareholders rose 68.1 percent to reach 97.6 billion yuan during the same period.

The robust results were mainly attributed to customer development. Ping An said the operating profit of its retail business jumped by around one third year over year to 66.5 billion yuan, accounting for 90.6 percent of the profit.

Retail customers grew by 6.6 percent or 20 million during the first six months, with over one third of the newly-acquired customers being sourced from internet users within the group’s five ecosystems, namely, financial services, health care, auto services, real estate services and smart city services, the half-year report showed.

The company now boasts 196 million retail customers and 576 million internet users, offering them financial products and services under an integrated business model of “one customer, multiple products, and one-stop services.”

Operating profit per customer gained a year-on-year increase of 20.9 percent to about 340 yuan. As of June 30, contracts per customer rose by 0.05 from the beginning of 2019 to 2.6. Around 69.4 million retail customers held multiple contracts with different subsidiaries of Ping An Group, a rise of 9.0 percent from the beginning of the year.

Across business lines, operating profit after tax of life and health insurance business segment came to 48.4 billion yuan, a growth of 36.1 percent from the previous year.

Ping An Property & Casualty’s operating profit grew by 69.5 percent year on year to 10 billion yuan and its combined ratio stood at 96.6 percent, indicating excellent business quality.

Ping An Bank maintained stable, healthy business growth. The joint-stock commercial lender realized a net profit of 15.4 billion yuan, up 15.2 percent year on year due to steady increases in net interest margin and net non-interest revenue.

The financial group said it continued to develop technological strengths during the first half, with technology business recording total revenue of 38.4 billion yuan, up 33.6 percent year on year. As of June 30, 2019, the total valuation of its technology companies — Lufax Holding, OneConnect, Ping An Good Doctor, Ping An HealthKonnect, and Autohome — reached about US$70 billion.

Looking forward, Ping An said it would continue to adhere to the “finance plus technology” and “finance plus ecosystem” strategies and focus on two major industries of pan financial assets and pan health care.