CHINA Life Insurance, the nation’s largest life insurer, said profit fell 38 per cent in the first half as declines in the stock market eroded investment returns and pandemic-induced lockdowns hampered policy sales.

Net income dropped to 25.4 billion yuan (S$5.2 billion), from 40.97 billion yuan a year earlier, the Beijing-based company said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday (Aug 25).

Chairman Bai Tao is under pressure to bolster profitability during the pandemic and an economic slowdown. He took the helm earlier in the year from Wang Bin who fell under a corruption probe, inheriting a company that’s seeking to sell more products with bigger margins.

New business value, which gauges the profitability of new life policies sold, slid 14 per cent in the first half. That narrowed from the measure’s 23 per cent decline for all of last year, and compares with a 14.8 per cent drop projected by China International Capital analysts led by Mao Qingqing. BLOOMBERG