Glonghui, April 15 | J.P. Morgan Chase published a research report stating that China Life's net profit this year is expected to increase 4% year-on-year to 48 billion yuan, with dividends of 0.51 yuan and a dividend rate of 6%. The bank mentioned that China Life Insurance did not disclose the new business contract service margin (CSM), reserve details, and CSM changes in the 2023 fiscal year results. Therefore, the bank will estimate its new business CSM based on the value of the new business, and estimates that the new business CSM for the 2024-26 fiscal year will be 43 billion, 50 billion yuan, and 58 billion yuan respectively. J.P. Morgan believes that the reform agenda for the domestic insurance industry will bring more benefits to high-quality state-owned insurance companies such as China Life Insurance. However, since IFRS-17 was adopted in 2023, weak stock market trends have largely put pressure on the company's profit base. At the same time, rising asset risk concerns may be a major factor dragging down stock prices. Due to the improvement in China Life's risk-return situation, the bank maintained its “excess” rating, with a target price of HK$15.