China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) said on Thursday that -- under new accounting rules -- the country's life insurance premiums reached 145 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2007, up 17.8 percent year on year.

Reinsurance premiums, excluded under the previous accounting rules, have been added to the total under the new rules which came into force on Jan. 1.

Despite the excellent performance by life insurance, the CIRC warned insurers to look into risks from potential interest rate hikes.

The country's insurance companies reported premiums worth 196 billion yuan during the same period, an increase of 22.7 percent year on year, official statistics showed.

The total assets of the insurance sector climbed to 2.25 trillion yuan by the end of March, about 271 billion yuan more than that at the beginning of this year.