Announces Interim Results for 2005

Ping An Group Consolidated Income Statement Highlights

For six months ended June 30, (in RMB million)　2005　2004

Gross written premiums, policy fees and premium deposits36,03734,200

Less: Premium deposits　(5,488)(1,919)

Gross written premiums and policy fees　30,54932,281

Total revenue　 32,60332,825

Operating profit2,673 1,842

Net profit　2,250 1,527

Breakdown of net profit by business segment:

Life insurance　1,868 1,382

Property and casualty insurance 142　 45

Other businesses240　 100

Net profit　2,250 1,527

Ping An’s total revenue in 1H2005 was RMB 32,603 million. Gross written premiums, policy fees and premium deposits reached RMB 36,037 million and total investment income was RMB 4,500 million, an increase of 5.4% and 69.0% respectively over 1H2004.

The strong growth in net profit was primarily due to the better performance in its core life insurance and property and casualty insurance businesses as a result of improved product mix in both businesses, continued cost control initiatives and better total investment returns. Life insurance and property and casualty insurance accounted for approximately 83.0% and 6.3% of net profit respectively.

Mr. Ma Mingzhe, Chairman and CEO commented, “We are extremely pleased with our results for the first half of the year. 2005 is the first year for the full opening of the PRC insurance market after WTO accession and also a critical year for our development. The Group sustained good development momentum in the first half of 2005 and achieved its main objectives as planned. Our business mix and key performance indicators continued to improve, and our productivity and unit cost indicators were also enhanced. Such progress and improvement demonstrate the positive effects of the active transformation strategies implemented in the past three years.”

Life Insurance Business

In the first half of 2005, Ping An’s life insurance business realized a net profit of RMB 1,868 million, an increase of 35.2% over 1H2004. Gross written premiums, policy fees and premium deposits reached RMB 29,747million. This represents a market share of 14.8%. Gross written premiums, policy fees and premium deposits for the individual life business reached RMB 23,441 million, an increase of 16.3% over 1H2004. This increase was primarily due to the 57.8% increase in first year premiums, policy fees and premium deposits to RMB 6,179 million. Substantially all of the gross written premiums, policy fees and premium deposits from new sales of individual life insurance were generated by regular premium insurance products. These increases were primarily due to the continued improvement in the productivity of the agency force and growth momentum in recently launched universal life products.

During this period, and compared to the first half of 2004,

·Gross written premiums, policy fees and premium deposits for the bancassurance business decreased 28.2% to RMB2,192 million from RMB3,055 million primarily due to the continued efforts to preserve profit margin.

·Gross written premiums, policy fees and premium deposits for the group insurance business decreased 29.8% to RMB4,114 million from RMB5,861 million primarily due to the continued efforts to improve profit margin. As a result of the product mix improvement, gross written premiums and policy fees for short-term group insurance business increased 44.9% to RMB1,090 million from RMB752 million.

·Total investment income increased 63.0% to RMB 3,966 million from RMB 2,433 million. Total investment yield increased to 4.2% from 3.5%.

·The 13-month and 25-month persistency ratios were maintained at a healthy level of more than 85% and 80%, respectively, as a result of the continued efforts to maintain excellent customer service.

·Claims and policyholders’ benefits increased 50.1% to RMB8,011 million from RMB5,337 million primarily due to the increases in payments for maturities and survival benefits, and surrenders of insurance policies.

·Commission expenses, paid primarily to sales agents, increased 9.4% to RMB2,465 million from RMB2,253 million due to the increase in first year premiums, policy fees and premium deposits from individual life products. Commission expenses as a percentage of gross written premiums, policy fees, and premium deposits increased to 8.3% from 7.8%.

·General, administrative and other expenses increased 12.0% to RMB1,911 million from RMB1,706 million. General, administrative and other expenses as a percentage of gross written premiums, policy fees and premium deposits increased to 6.4% from 5.9% primarily due to the increase in sales of first year premium and premium deposits.

·Income taxes increased 31.1% to RMB211 million from RMB161 million due to the increase in operating profit. The effective tax rate decreased to 10.1% from 10.4% due to the increase in interest income from government bonds, which was benefited from certain tax exemptions.

Property and Casualty Insurance Business

In the first half of 2005, Ping An’s property and casualty insurance business realized a net profit of RMB 142 million, an increase of 215.6% over 1H2004. Throughout the first half of 2005, Ping An’s property and casualty business continued to grow with a focus on effective underwriting risks management and operation cost controls. As a result, the combined ratio improved to 96.1% in the six months ended June 30, 2005 from 97.2% in the full year of 2004. Gross written premiums increased 22.5% to RMB 6,290 million over 1H2004, which represents a market share of 9.4%.

During this period, and compared to the first half of 2004, ·Gross written premiums increased 22.5% to RMB 6,290 million from RMB5,136 million. This increase was primarily due to the significant growth in all three principal lines of its property and casualty insurance businesses.

·Total investment income increased 81.3% to RMB 174 million from RMB 96 million. Total investment yield increased to 4.1% from 3.9%.

·Total claims increased 38.6% to RMB2,612 million from RMB1,884 million. This increase was primarily due to the increase in premium growth, and the additional claim reserves being provided for compulsory third party motor insurance coverage, motor loan guarantees and flood damage.

·Commission expenses increased 32.6% to RMB439 million from RMB331 million. As a percentage of gross written premiums, commission expenses increased to 7.0% from 6.4% primarily due to higher market commission rates resulting from increased competition in the property and casualty insurance industry.

·General, administrative and other expenses increased 10.7% to RMB1,099 million from RMB993 million. However, as a percentage of gross written premiums, general, administrative and other expenses decreased to 17.5% from 19.3% due to the operating cost control and the improved economies of scale.

·Income taxes increased 27.5% to RMB176 million from RMB138 million while the effective tax rate decreased to 55.3% from 75.4%. The decrease in the effective tax rate was primarily due to the increase in interest income from government bonds, which was benefited from certain tax exemptions.

Consolidated Investment Results

In the first half of 2005, Ping An continued to follow its prudent investment principles.

·Net investment income increased 30.6% to RMB4,481 million from RMB3,432 million primarily due to the increase in its investment assets to RMB219,666 million as of June 30, 2005 from RMB174,145 million as of June 30, 2004. Net investment yield remained unchanged at 4.1%.

·Total investment income increased 69.0% to RMB4,500 million from RMB2,663 million. Total investment yield increased to 4.1% from 3.6%. This increase was primarily due to the decrease in bond yield rates, which resulted in a higher valuation of bond investments that were “carried at fair value through profit or loss”. In addition, equity investments in the PRC equity markets suffered a smaller loss as compared to 1H2004. As a result, the realized and unrealized gains were RMB19 million as compared to realized and unrealized losses of RMB769 million.

The Group continued to improve its portfolio asset allocation in response to the changes in the capital markets. As a result, bonds as a percentage of total investment assets increased to 62.3% as of June 30, 2005 from 56.0% as of December 31, 2004.

Cross Selling

Ping An continued to achieve significant success in selling its property and casualty products to its life insurance customers, leveraging its broad customer base and advanced information technology. The Group expects cross-selling to continue as an important distribution channel for Ping An property and casualty and make significant contributions to future growth.

Back-Office Centralization

Construction of its national back-office support centre in Zhangjiang, Shanghai is proceeding smoothly. The initial pilot testing has been completed for the centralization of underwriting and claims functions currently performed in several branches. The Group will enter the next phase of this project with valuable experience accumulated during the test.

Comprehensive Financial Service Platform

Following the establishment of Ping An Annuity Insurance Company of China, Ltd. in the second half of last year, Ping An Health Insurance Company of China, Ltd. and Ping An Asset Management Co., Ltd. were both established in the first half of 2005. In addition, the headquarter of Ping An Bank moved to Shanghai. As a result, the Group has a total of eight subsidiaries providing a wide range of financial services and products to its customers. In order to better meet the customers’ demand for more diversified financial services, the Group has initiated an overall organizational transformation resulting in better product development and more effective allocation of resources to serve both individual and corporate customers. This will further enhance the Group’s ability to cross-sell a variety of financial services and products.

Looking Forward

Competition has increased due to market liberalization. Despite this, the Group believes that future growth in the Chinese insurance industry is assured as corporate governance and professional standards in the industry continue to improve. This optimistic outlook is based on the rapid growth of the Chinese economy and the increase in purchasing power of both individuals and corporations.

Mr. Ma Mingzhe concluded, “In the second half of 2005, we will pursue new business opportunities, continue our re-organization and strengthen the competitiveness of our core business. We will also seek to open new investment channels, such as infrastructure projects to diversify our investment risks, increase returns on investment, and improve our asset liability management.”

About Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd.

Ping An was founded in 1988 and is based in Shenzhen. Growing from a core business of insurance, Ping An has turned itself into a close-knit, efficient and diversified financial holding group that has integrated securities, trust and banking services. Ping An is a listed company on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the name “Ping An of China” with the stock code “2318”.

In its seventeen year history, Ping An has turned itself into one of the most recognized brands in the PRC and an overseas-listed company with great international reputation. The Group has developed an extensive customer base in the PRC and is one of the few Chinese financial institutions that has a financial service conglomerate platform.