Ping An Insurance

RANK25

Ping An Insurance, China’s largest insurer, fell to No. 25 on this year’s Fortune Global 500 from No. 16 the year prior. The company suffered a 24% profit decline in 2021, and its stock plunged nearly 50% over the course of the year. A number of factors contributed to these setbacks, including a 43.2 billion yuan provision Ping An had to make for its investment in real estate company China Fortune Land Development, and struggling sales in its life insurance arm, which is its largest revenue source. Despite its troubled investment with China Fortune Land Development, Ping An has said it will continue to invest in real estate and expects such losses to ease. Just 5% of its investment portfolio is currently in real estate, well below China’s 30% regulatory limit. Ping An has also focused on strengthening its integrated financial services business, including the Ping An Good Doctor platform, which brought in 7.3 billion yuan in revenue in 2021. It continued its expansion of its fintech business, filing for over 7,000 technology patents in 2021, and successfully listed its fintech subsidiary OneConnect on the Hong Kong stock exchange in July 2022. Ping An is also HSBC’s largest shareholder, and in May 2022 it launched a campaign calling for the British bank to spin off its Asian operations.