According to the announcement, China Ping An, China Life Insurance, the people's insurance, and New China Life Insurance are expected to distribute a total of nearly 27 billion yuan in mid-term dividends.

According to the announcement, China Ping An will distribute a total of 16.84 billion yuan in cash dividends, accounting for over 60% of the total amount and the largest among the four insurers. Based on the plan, the combined mid-term dividend distribution of the four insurers accounts for 20.45% of the current profits.

In reference to the current profit scales of each insurer, the mid-term dividend rates for China Life Insurance and New China Life Insurance are approximately 15%, while the mid-term dividend rate for the people's insurance is over 12%, and for China Ping An, it's over 22%. Among them, China Life Insurance, New China Life Insurance, and the people's insurance are participating in mid-term dividends for the first time in recent years. China Ping An's mid-term dividend scale remains the same as last year and has not increased with the growth of profits in the first half of the year.

The mid-term dividends of the four insurers amount to nearly 27 billion yuan, and China Ping An accounts for over 60%.

In April of this year, following the release of the 'Nine Measures for the New Era' by the State Council, listed insurance companies have successively followed the requirement to 'distribute dividends multiple times a year'. In addition to China Ping An, which has been implementing mid-term dividends, China Life Insurance, the people's insurance, and New China Life Insurance have successively announced plans for mid-term profit distribution arrangements.

On August 30, China Life Insurance announced that the company plans to distribute a cash dividend of 0.20 yuan per share (tax included) to all shareholders for the mid-year of 2024. The total cash dividend to be distributed in this profit distribution will be calculated based on the total share capital registered on the equity distribution registration date, with a total of approximately 5.653 billion yuan (tax included) to be distributed for the mid-year of 2024, calculated based on the issued shares of 28,264,705,000 shares.

On the same day, New China Life Insurance announced that the company plans to distribute a cash dividend of 0.54 yuan per share (tax included) to all shareholders, with a total of approximately 1.685 billion yuan based on the issued shares of 3,119,546,600 shares. The remaining undistributed profits will be reserved for distribution in future periods. For the mid-year of 2024, the company plans to distribute a total cash dividend, which accounts for 15% of the net income attributable to the shareholders of the parent company.

Earlier, China Life Insurance and Ping An Insurance both disclosed their mid-term profit distribution plans for 2024.

Among them, China Life Insurance announced on August 29 that, according to the decision of the board of directors, the company plans to distribute a mid-term dividend of 0.63 RMB per 10 shares (tax included) to all shareholders. As of June 30, 2024, the company's total share capital is 44,223,990,583 shares, and the total cash dividend to be distributed is estimated to be 2.786 billion RMB (tax included).

Ping An Insurance announced on August 22 that the company will distribute a mid-term dividend of 0.93 RMB per share (tax included) for 2024. Based on the total share capital of the company as of June 30, 2024, which is 18,210,234,607 shares after deducting 102,592,612 shares of the company's A shares held in the company's repurchase special security account, the total amount of mid-term dividend for 2024 is estimated to be 16,840,107,055.35 RMB (tax included).

According to statistics from Caixin, the four insurance companies are expected to distribute a total of 26.964 billion RMB in cumulative cash dividends for the first half of this year, with Ping An Insurance accounting for 62.45%.

The dividend payout ratios range from a minimum of 12% to a maximum of 22%, both of which are lower than the dividend payout ratio for the whole year of the previous year.

Data shows that in 2023, the annual cumulative cash dividends of Ping An Insurance, China Life Insurance, China Life Insurance, and New China Life Insurance were 44.01 billion RMB, 12.154 billion RMB, 6.899 billion RMB, and 2.652 billion RMB, respectively. The annual dividend payout ratios were 51.37%, 57.60%, 30.30%, and 30.34%.

Benefiting from the good performance in liabilities and assets, the profits of various insurance companies in the first half of this year have generally increased. According to statistics from Eastmoney Information, the net income attributable to the parent companies of the five listed insurance companies (including China Pacific Insurance) in the first half of this year totaled approximately 171.8 billion RMB, an increase of 28.03% compared to the same period last year, exceeding the full-year results of 2023.

Among them, Ping An Insurance, China Life Insurance, China Life Insurance, and New China Life Insurance achieved net income attributable to parent companies of 74.619 billion RMB, 38.278 billion RMB, 22.687 billion RMB, and 11.083 billion RMB, respectively, in the first half of this year, with year-on-year growth rates of 6.84%, 10.58%, 14.11%, and 11.07%.

Referring to the profitability of various companies, the dividend rates of the four insurance companies mentioned above in this disclosure period are approximately 22.57%, 14.77%, 12.28%, and 15.20%, respectively, all lower than half of the dividend rate for the previous year.

However, in terms of the dividend scale, New China Life Insurance's mid-term dividend scale has accounted for 63.53% of the total for the previous year, while Ping An Insurance, China Life Insurance, and China Pacific Insurance accounted for 38.26%, 46.51%, and 40.38%, respectively.

Previously, China Life Insurance and New China Life Insurance announced that when formulating the 2024 profit distribution plan, they will consider the factors of interim profit distribution that have already been issued. China Life Insurance also stated that the total amount of interim cash dividends will not exceed 30% of the net income attributable to shareholders of the parent company for the first half of 2024.

During the recent mid-term performance presentation, the management of the two insurance companies mentioned above also expressed their views on the subsequent dividend arrangements. China Life Insurance President Li Mingguang said that in order to further give back to investors, China Life Insurance has increased mid-term dividends this year, which is roughly equivalent to 50% of last year's dividends. "In the future, including annual dividends, we will continue to follow the basic rules we have adhered to for a long time, taking into account the company's annual operational situation, shareholder returns, and business development needs under the premise of meeting regulatory requirements, to determine the level of dividends for the whole year."

Gong Xingfeng, Chief Actuary of New China Life Insurance, stated that mid-term dividends fully reflect the positive response of the company's management and board of directors to the demands of the entire capital market. "In the next step, we will continue to consider the needs of the company's business development, operations, as well as the capital market and investors, and strike a balance to steadily introduce corresponding annual dividend plans."