China Life Insurance, the mainland's largest life insurer, said profit surged 114.44 per cent last year to a record, as it sold more policies and reaped higher returns from investments.
Net profit rose to 19.96 billion yuan from 9.31 billion yuan in 2005, beating the mean estimate of 16.2 billion yuan by 11 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
Revenue climbed 49.99 per cent to 147.31 billion yuan, while net premium income and policy fees grew 23.5 per cent to 98.85 billion.
Investment income jumped 49.49 per cent to 24.94 billion yuan with a yield of 4.27 per cent, up 41 basis points, partly fuelled by an 843.72 per cent growth in stock investments to 4.66 billion yuan.
The mainland's insurance sector is benefiting from rising household income and Beijing's policy to shift the pension burden to the private sector.
The surging stock market, whose gains more than doubled in Shanghai last year, also helped insurers make higher investment returns.
The company's embedded value, a gauge of future profit based on current policies, rose 59.7 per cent to 181.98 billion yuan. The value of new business increased 40 per cent to 10.48 million yuan.
