Feb. 26, 2007 (China Knowledge) – Insurance companies raked in RMB 93.2 billion of net income from investments for the fiscal 2006, representing a 5.82% in aggregate rate of return.

Out of the net income from investment, stock market investments contributed RMB 8.92 billion, bringing in a 27.1% rate of return for 2006. Sun Jianyong, director of the capital usage department in China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), noted that the average rate of return doubled to 5.82% from 2005.

Total investment income from the capital market, including unrealized capital gains, was RMB 50.8 billion, representing a rate of return of 181.54%, or 6.7 times than that of the net realized investment income rate of return.

Sun added that CIRC will encourage insurance companies to adjust their investment structure by decreasing the amount of funds invested in the form of bank deposits while increasing the proportion of their investments in the capital market.