RISE IN PICC PROFITS COULD PAVE WAY FOR DOMESTIC LISTING

Solid results for 2007 have made it likely that China’s largest non-life insurer PICC will list on the Shanghai stock exchange this year, according to company vice-president Zhou Shurui. However, he noted that “we haven’t decided whether the group will go public as an entity, or if it will just be PICC Property & Casualty Co Ltd returning to the mainland market”. The Financial News quoted PICC president Wu Yan as telling an in-house conference that “in 2008, we will deepen our shareholding reform with a focus on pushing toward listing on the domestic A-share market”. The news came as PICC reported net profit of 2.2bn yuan ($306m), up 120% year on year, on premiums up 31% to 96bn yuan. Mr Wu reportedly told the staff meeting that the aim in 2008 was to boost premium income to more than 120bn yuan. He said that there was a mild preference for listing the group’s entire operations on the Shanghai exchange, rather than the currently Hong Kong-quoted PICC P/C.