China's insurance companies' investments raked in an aggregate return of 75.2 billion yuan from January to November, with the average return on investment (ROI) hitting 4.86 percent, up 1.61 percentage points on a year earlier.

In the year to November, domestic insurance companies poured 86.49 billion yuan into securities investment funds and spent another 77.04 billion yuan on listed and unlisted stocks, according to the latest figures from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC). China's insurance premium revenue hit a record high of 518 billion yuan at the end of November, up 13.8 percent on last year.

Life insurance contributed 331 billion yuan, up 10.3 percent, and property insurance premiums hit 138 billion yuan, up 22.2 percent. Health insurance and accident insurance accounted for 33.5 billion yuan and 15.2 billion yuan respectively, both witnessing a rise of 16 percent on a year earlier.

If growth continues at this rate, insurance premium revenue will approach the threshold of 600 billion yuan this year, said the CIRC. Tax breaks and a burgeoning middle class explain the excellent results, and the extra leeway that insurance companies have had since the government eased control on the utilization of insurance funds have also given the industry a shot in the arm.

Under a draft regulation issued last week, qualified insurance institutions that are approved by the CIRC will be able to invest foreign exchange in money market instruments, fixed-income products as well as equity products such as stocks, shares and equity funds. Their overseas investments, however, must not exceed 15 percent of the total assets of the company.

China Life is the biggest player, with 45.4 percent of the total. China Merchants Securities, a major securities company in China, has predicted that the sector's average return on investment could grow to eight percent in one year and 20 percent in three years.