By Ben Otto

China Taiping Insurance Holdings Co. said Tuesday that its first-half net profit plunged 57% because of tax-policy changes a year earlier that caused a high base of comparison.

Net profit fell to 2.88 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$371.6 million) from HK$6.74 billion a year earlier, the insurer said in a stock-exchange filing. The company also recognized noncash impairments as a result of fair-value losses on investments due to changing market conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

China Taiping's total premiums written and policy fees came in at HK$137.07 billion, down 1.3% on year, as the pandemic affected performance, the company said.

China Taiping said it expects the pandemic to continue to severely disrupt the global economy in the second half of the year. 



  Write to Ben Otto at ben.otto@wsj.com