HONG KONG, Aug. 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — China Life Insurance Company Limited (“China Life” or the “Company”) (SSE: 601628; SEHK: 2628; NYSE: LFC) is pleased to announce that the Company has won seven awards from Institutional Investor‘s “2020 All-Asia Executive Team” rankings, including one of the “Most Honored Companies”, among 1,472 nominees.
Since 2019, China Life has launched the “Dingxin Project” aimed at promoting market-orientated reform and comprehensively pushed forward the strategic goal of “China Life Revitalization”; transforming the Company’s operations and significantly improving its fundamentals. Since new management has taken the helm, the Company has increased its channels of communication with domestic and overseas investors to establish an open, transparent and healthy corporate image within the capital market. These awards are testament to the capital market’s high recognition for the Company’s investor relations work.
Asia’s Most Honored Companies Rankings
This year marks the third consecutive year in which China Life has been recognized as one of Asia’s Most Honored Companies. The Company also ranked top three in all six categories for the insurance sector: Best CEO ranked #2, Best CFO ranked #2, Best IR Professionals ranked #1, Best IR Team ranked #1, Best IR Program ranked #2 and Best ESG ranked #3.
This is the first time that China Life has been recognized in all seven categories since its listing. Among which, China Life surpassed many well-known domestic and overseas insurance companies to take first place in both the “Best IR Program” and “Best IR Team” categories for the first time.
Founded in New York in 1967, Institutional Investor magazine quickly became an indispensable monthly source of news and analysis for Wall Street investors, and is the world’s leading international business-to-business publisher, focusing primarily on international finance. Its parent company, Euromoney Institutional Investors, is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 250.
Institutional Investor magazine is recognized as the leading provider of independent, qualitative feedback, for all three sides of the investment community. It conducts selection for enterprises in the Asia-Pacific region every year. The rankings are widely recognized by international sell-side analysts and buy-side investors.
The 2020 All-Asia Executive Team rankings reflect the opinions of 1,921 portfolio managers and buy-side analysts, and 611 sell-side analysts. This year, a total of 1,472 companies across 18 different sectors were nominated, among which 26 were from the insurance sector, creating fierce competition.
Unlike other awards, this ranking, which is entirely based on votes from recognized financial professionals, is a highly authoritative and trusted ranking for overseas capital markets.
Companies were evaluated on 9 performance attributes: (1) accessibility of senior executives; (2) execution of strategy; (3) IR Team is well informed and empowered; (4) productivity of NDR/conferences/calls; (5) responsiveness; (6) business & market knowledge; (7) consistency & granularity; (8) ESG information; and (9) Timeliness.
“China Life Revitalization” progressing steadily: Investor relations improvements highly recognized by the capital market
China Life was listed in New York and Hong Kong in 2003 and returned to the Chinese A-share market in 2007. With over a decade’s worth of experience being listed in three markets, China Life has been able to forge a professional, efficient and compliant IR team.
At present, the average age of the Company’s IR team is 35 years old, with experience in investor relations ranging from 3-15 years. The team members come from diverse backgrounds, but all possess a sound understanding of the capital markets as well as profound knowledge of the insurance industry, while maintaining an international perspective.
With the launch of a series of reforms in 2019, came a new top priority for the Company’s IR team: helping the capital market truly understand and recognize the positive changes in China Life.
Since new management has taken the helm, the IR team hosted a Company Open Day (the first in four years), providing access to the Company’s senior management and setting a record for number of attendees, while garnering an immense amount of attention from the capital market and the media. At the same time, the frequency of meetings with investors has been greatly increased, offering investors in-depth communication opportunities with Company management or relevant personnel, while the engagement and accessibility of the Company has been continuously enhanced.
In addition, the Company has also actively responded to the demands of the market. For the first time, the Company held a first quarter results conference call, adding to continued improvement of disclosure and transparency, while broadening the channels of communication between the capital market and the Company.
In 2020, COVID-19 has brought new challenges to every facet of life, including investor relations. The Company’s IR team rose to the challenge, and adapted to the difficult circumstances to ensure that the 2019 annual results briefing was held as scheduled, while innovatively completing a global virtual roadshow. Similarly, to allay the disruptions caused by the pandemic on face-to-face meetings with investors, China Life adapted its internal video conference system to be compatible with external platforms such as Tencent Conference, Zoom and WELINK, to ensure that communication with the capital market went unhindered. In the first half of the year, the number of meetings held with investors or analysts reached an all-time high.
In the future, China Life will continue to promote the strategic goal of “China Life Revitalization”, strive to improve fundamentals, strengthen and further innovate investor relations management, and pledge itself to creating long-term value for its shareholders.
CONTACT
Isaac Yau
+852 3103 0112
isaac.yau@citigatedewerogerson.com