(Hong Kong, Shanghai, 29 April 2021) Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. (hereafter “Ping An” or the “Group”, HKEx:2318; SSE:601318) announced that Ping An is the world’s most valuable insurance brand in the Insurance 100 2021 Ranking by leading brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance, with a brand value of USD44.8 billion. This has consolidated Ping An’s leadership position as it has retained the top spot as the world’s most valuable insurance brand for the fifth year in a row.

Brand Finance is the world’s leading independent brand valuation consultancy. It evaluates thousands of the world’s biggest brands every year. The Insurance 100 2021 ranking evaluates aspects of the brands’ the industry performance, brand equity, and contribution to business performance, and eventually calculates the Brand Strength Index (BSI) and quantifies the brand values. This year, Brand Finance assessed the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on enterprise value, estimating the likely impact on brand value for each sector.

Brand Finance said, “As predicted, insurance brands have taken a hit this year as they negotiate the fallout from the pandemic – from the near standstill of the global economy and prolonged low interest rates to slowing development across the sector in general. They have, however, fared better than our initial predictions at the outbreak of last year, demonstrating the resilience of the world’s top insurance brands. Ping An has already begun to show signs of a strong recovery as parts of the world begin to remerge from the pandemic, and therefore, if this trend continues, Ping An should see a solid increase in brand value in the coming year.”

Ping An continued to strengthen technological capabilities and strive to provide high quality products and services to clients amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first quarter of 2021, Ping An achieved steady business results, the Group achieved operating profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company of RMB39,120 million, rose by 8.9% year on year. In addition, the Group proactively promoted annuity products, improved its protection product portfolio by developing heartwarming “product + service” packages for healthy business development. New business value of life and health insurance business rose by 15.4% year on year to RMB18,980 million. Operating profit rose steadily by 4.2% year on year to RMB25,580 million. Ping An’s retail customers continued to increase. By the end of March, Ping An’s retail customers grew by 1.0% year to date to over 220 million, 84.57 million or 38.3% of whom held multiple contracts with different subsidiaries.

Ping An said: “While pursuing steady progress by continuously advancing the ‘finance + technology’ and the ‘finance + ecosystem’ strategies, Ping An adheres to the philosophy of ‘expertise makes life simple, technology makes financial services heartwarming, and healthcare makes life better’, develop heartwarming products and services by leveraging fintech and the healthcare ecosystem. In the future, Ping An will seize the development opportunities of fintech and healthtech, proactively involved in the construction of smart cities, fulfill social responsibilities and protect the society and people’s livelihoods.”

In addition to Ping An’s achievements, Chinese insurance brands in general have a significant presence in the Brand Finance Insurance 100 2021 ranking, with a total of 12 Chinese insurers featured. The cumulative brand value of these Chinese insurance brands accounted for 30% of the total brand value of Insurance 100 2021, and the five Chinese insurance brands featured in the top 10 are Ping An, China Life, AIA, CPIC and PICC.