China's personal insurance industry took in premiums totaling 217.8 billion yuan (US$29 billion) from January to May, up 16 percent on the corresponding period last year, said an official of the country's insurance regulatory body on Friday.

The total assets of the personal insurance sector rose to 2 trillion yuan (US$263 billion), accounting for 84 percent of all the assets in the insurance sector, said Chen Wenhui, assistant to the chairman of China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), when addressing a symposium on life insurance management.

Chen said China now has 49 insurance companies which offer life insurance, endowment insurance and health insurance services. Last year the nation's life insurance companies reported profits of 13 billion yuan, 7 billion yuan higher than the previous year.

According to statistics, China's life insurance companies achieved net profit of 5.8 billion yuan in 2005, more than quintuple the level of 2002.

(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2007)