2010-11-22 14:49

HONG KONG - Ping An Insurance (Group) Co of China Ltd, the world's No 2 insurer, said it aims to draw half of its profit from non-insurance operations within 3-5 years, up from about 30 percent now.

The company also wanted its insurance, banking and investment income to each contribute about a third of total profit in the next 10-15 years, Vice-Chairman Sun Jianyi said on Monday.

"In the next three to five years, we hope to speed up development of our non-insurance operations so that it can contribute to about 50 percent of our total profit," said Zhao Jun, Ping An's chief legal counsel.

Ping An owns a 30 percent stake in Shenzhen Development Bank Co Ltd, aiming to become a financial conglomerate modelled after the likes of HSBC Holdings Plc and Citigroup Inc.

Ping An, along with rival China Life Insurance Co Ltd, are entering the banking business, putting them head to head with banks such as Industrial and Commercial bank of China Ltd, which are venturing into the insurance field.

Shares of Ping An have risen about 20 percent since October, far outpacing the benchmark Hang Seng index's 5 percent advance as investors bet on an interest rate rise in China.

Insurers earn a spread between the return on their investments and their liabilities to customers, with wider spreads achievable when rates rise.