Insurers could be considered a cross between a casino and a hedge fund. Retained premiums are the casino’s win ratio; investment returns on the premium capital are the hedge fund. Sometimes the casino wins, sometimes it loses – both with the bets it places on risks and with the returns it makes on its assets.
Chinese insurer Ping An’s third-quarter results this week could be seen as a solid win. Diluted earnings per share rose four-fifths year on year; in the first nine months Ping An delivered 90 per cent of analysts’ earnings estimates for the full year.
If anything, Ping An is growing a little too quickly for comfort. Its premiums have grown 16 per cent this year. By contrast, premiums at China’s largest life insurer, China Life , are down 2 per cent year to date. Those at property and casualty leader PICC have grown only 14 per cent. Either Ping An knows something its rivals do not, or it is mispricing risk.