Ping An Insurance raises 2016 dividend payment by 41.5pc on confident outlook

Ping An Insurance, China’s largest insurer in terms of market value, said it will maintain a consistent dividend payout policy after it announced a 41.5 per cent increase in dividend payment for 2016.

“While we consider the level of dividend payment, we have to consider our future business growth and profitability. We are confident of our future business growth so that we can keep a consistent dividend payment policy,” said Alex Ren, president of Ping An, at the post results briefing on Thursday.

Ping An on Wednesday announced it would pay a final dividend of 5.5 yuan per 10 shares, bringing the full year dividend to 7.5 yuan per 10 shares in 2016, 41.5 per cent higher than 2015. The total dividend payment is 13.7 billion yuan (US$2 billion), representing 22 per cent of its net profit, compared with 18 per cent in 2015.

The company reiterated that it was still planning to publicly list its internet arm Lufax but declined to confirm if it will list in Hong Kong.

“We are planning for a listing of Lufax and we are open minded to all possibilities. There is no decision on where and when to list yet,” said Jessica Tan, Ping An’s chief operating officer and chief information officer.

The company last year announced a plan to spin off Ping An Securities as a listing in Hong Kong. Ren said the preparation is still ongoing but no details could be announced yet.