[ET Net News Agency, 5 November 2019] HSBC Global Research lowered its target price for
New China Life (NCI)(01336) to HK$33 from HK$44 and downgraded its rating to "hold" from
"buy".
The research house said NCI is the purest life play in its coverage universe, offering
exposure to China's growing life insurance market. It has delivered an impressive progress
in executing its transformation plan to cut the proportion of lower margin single premium
investment products sold through the bancassurance channel.
However, agency growth has lagged peers in the past three years and productivity
improvements will take time. Whether NCI will continue to focus on value under the new
management is unclear. HSBC expects it to deliver 13% embedded value and 0% life new
business value growth over 2018-21. (KL)