China:January 2018 total premiums fell by 20% on plunge in life sales
China's insurance industry premium income fell by 19.9% to CNY685 billion (US$109 billion) in January, according to data from the country's insurance regulator, according to data from the CIRC.
This contrasts with an increase of 18.2% in January 2017 when premiums reached CNY855 billion.
More specifically, the data show:
| Business | 2017 Premiums (CNY bln) | 2016 Premiums (CNY bln) | % Change |
| Non-life | 114.5 | 97.4 | +17.6 |
| Life | 570.6 | 758.0 | -24.7 |
| Total | 685.1 | 855.4 | -19.9 |
The decline in life premiums in January 2018 is attributed to the CIRC's crackdown last year on risky short-term universal life insurance products.
Total assets of the insurance industry stood at CNY16.9 trillion at the end of January, representing an increase of 0.93% from the beginning of the year.
January 2017's life premiums contributed 32% of the total life premiums of CNY2,675 billion for the whole of last year.