In this April 8, 2018 photo, a pedestrian walks past the headquarters of China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) in Beijing, China. (PHOTO / IC)

BEIJING - China's insurance sector has reported adequate solvency in the first quarter (Q1) of this year despite increased operation pressure, the country's banking and insurance regulator said.

Though the development of the sector slowed in Q1 due to COVID-19 and other factors, risks are generally controllable, the CBIRC said

The comprehensive solvency ratio of the 178 insurers reviewed by a regulatory meeting stood at 244.6 percent by the end of Q1, down 3.1 percentage points compared with the previous quarter, said the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC).

Though the development of the sector slowed in Q1 due to COVID-19 and other factors, risks are generally controllable, the CBIRC noted.

The solvency ratio is a key metric to measure an insurer's ability to meet its debt and other obligations.

China's insurance sector has kept optimizing its services, increased support for epidemic containment and facilitated work and production resumption, the CBIRC said, urging insurance institutions to increase funds and build up their risk compensation capacity to better promote economic development.  

Insurance companies saw falling profit in the first quarter as the novel coronavirus outbreak hurt businesses and investment returns, but the market remained stable as insurers took a string of efforts to mitigate the impacts of the epidemic.

Amid the epidemic, the income of health insurance products surged 21.6% year on year to 264.1 billion yuan, Shanghai Securities News reported, citing industry data

The combined profit of China's insurance companies were predicted at 100.2 billion yuan (about US$14.1 billion) in the first quarter, down 14.44 percent year on year, Shanghai Securities News reported on Thursday, citing industry data.

Premium income of life insurance firms edged up 1.78 percent year on year to 1.31 trillion yuan during the period, while that of property insurance companies went up 4.17 percent to 360.1 billion yuan.

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Amid the epidemic, the income of health insurance products surged 21.6 percent year on year to 264.1 billion yuan.

With easy access to the internet, more and more Chinese consumers like to use online channels to research and buy life and pensions products.

The country's four leading online insurance companies including ZhongAn and Anxin reported strong performance, with income surging 75.25 percent year on year.

Earlier data from the CBIRC showed the total assets of the insurance industry stood at 21.72 trillion yuan at the end of March, up 13.66 percent from a year ago.