The Zhitong Finance App learned that China Merchants Securities released a research report saying that recently, listed insurers disclosed the original insurance premium income from January to April 2024. The monthly increase in life insurance premiums of various companies in April was mainly driven by renewal, and value performance may be better than expected; the growth rate of financial insurance premiums is not expected to be due to differences in car insurance business. Since the beginning of the year, the debt side of life insurance has remained strong, and financial insurance has been under pressure in the short term, but as asset-side stock markets, real estate, and interest rates ushered in triple catalysis, the constraints that suppress the profit performance and stock price valuation of the life insurance sector are expected to be fully opened up. An insurance sector with undervaluation, low holdings, and low expectations, or an excellent choice reflecting the equity market, real estate expectations, and interest rate environment at the present time. Maintain industry recommendation ratings.

In terms of life insurance premiums, April mainly relied on renewal premiums to drive growth, and value performance may be better than expected

From January to April 2024, the year-on-year growth rates of life insurance premium income of listed insurers were: China Life +3.9% > China Ping An +2.1% > Taibao Life Insurance -3.5% > People Insurance -5.9% > Xinhua Insurance -11.7%, of which the April months were: People's Insurance +23.6% > Taibao Life Insurance +12.3% > China Life +11.6% > China Life Insurance +11.6% > China Life Insurance +6.3% > Xinhua Insurance -11.6%. With the exception of Xinhua Insurance, which continues to be affected by the “integration of reporting and banking” banking channels and the drastic reduction in transaction services, the premium growth rate of other insurance companies has achieved good performance. It is expected that this year's premium renewal premiums will increase significantly, mainly due to the increase in new orders in the same period last year.

Looking at the new business, the year-on-year contract for long-term life insurance in a single month was -41.3% in April, partly due to the impact of the high base in the same period last year. Considering the sharp increase in margin brought about by business structure optimization, product reservation interest rate pressure drop, and channel fee improvements, China Merchants Securities expects that the 24H1 life insurance NBV growth rate of all companies will maintain a double-digit level, and the performance may be better than the market's previous expectations.

In terms of financial insurance premiums, the growth rate in April was divided, which is not expected to be due to differences in the car insurance business

From January to April 2024, the year-on-year growth rates of financial insurance premium income of listed insurers were: Taibao Financial Insurance +7.8% > Ping An Financial Insurance +3.1% > Human Insurance +2.8%. Among them, the single month of April was: Taibao Financial Insurance +4.7% > Ping An Financial Insurance +4.1% > Human Insurance -1.4%. Looking at insurance types, in April, personal car insurance premiums increased 3.5% year on year, +0.4pt from month to month, but domestic retail sales of passenger cars in the narrow sense fell 5.5% year on year (previous value was +6.2%). Part of the reason for the differentiation was that the marginal impact of new car sales on stock business weakened; non-car insurance premiums fell 7.8% year on year, -18.2pt month on month, of which local governments mainly selected policy insurance types such as Yijian Insurance (5.964 billion yuan, -6.1% year on year) and agricultural insurance (3.462 billion yuan, -12.2%) Changes in the pace of business due to delays, responsibilities Insurance ($2,399 million, -1.2% YoY), corporate financial insurance ($977 million, -15.3% YoY), and guarantee insurance ($281 million, -25.3% YoY) are mainly affected by the company's strengthened business quality management and proactive optimization of insurance structures.

Risk warning: Economic growth falls short of expectations; regulation tightening; declining product attractiveness; capital market fluctuations; declining interest rates; life insurance transformation falls short of expectations.