China registered 44.47 billion yuan in insurance premium income in the first quarter of this year, up 34 percent from the same period last year, according to latest statistics from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC).
Of the income, premiums from life insurance totaled 27.26 billion yuan and that from property insurance stood at 17.21 billion yuan.
Chinese-funded insurance companies registered 43.7 billion yuan of premiums in the period, while foreign-funded companies registered 711 million yuan worth of premiums.
Ma Yongwei, chairman of the commission, attributed the increase in premium income to the upward trend of China's macro-economy and China's strengthened efforts to supervise the insurance market.
The demand for insurance is growing with the improvement in the country's social security system and the implementation of related policies, said Ma, adding that the credit measures launched by banking departments also promoted the demand for insurance as Chinese residents spent more on cars and housing.
In the January-March period, China's insurance companies paid out more than 10 billion yuan of indemnity, up 320 million yuan from the same period last year.
(Eastday.com 04/24/2001)
