China Life, the country's largest life insurer, announced Monday that it took in 170.1 billion yuan (US$22.9 billion) in the first ten months of this year.

But the corporate announcement did not reveal how the figure compared with the level in the same period of last year.

According to China Life's website, the Shanghai-listed company accumulated 200 billion yuan in premiums for the whole of last year.

The life insurer's gross assets have amounted to 1.03 trillion yuan, or 42 percent of the total of all insurers on the Chinese mainland.

Earlier reports said China Life generated 24.7 billion yuan of net profit in the first three quarters of this year, and the earning per share (EPS) reached 0.87 yuan.

China Life reported a net profit in the third quarter alone of 7.8 billion yuan, and premium income as the major source of the company's operating income, making up 71.2 percent of the total.

It is expected that the EPS of the company will be 1.35 yuan in2007 and 1.9 yuan in 2008.

(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2007)