(Yicai Global) March 24 -- Shares of Zhongan Online P&C Insurance jumped after China's internet-only insurance trailblazer said its underwriting business turned a profit for the first time last year.

After gaining as much as 4.4 percent earlier today, Zhongan Online [HKG: 6060] closed 2.6 percent higher at HKD27.75 (USD3.55). The stock is still down about 38 percent over the past 12 months.

Underwriting income tallied CNY75.1 million (USD9.6 million) in 2021, compared to a net loss of CNY408.1 million (USD52.2 million) in 2020, the Shanghai-based company said in its earnings report released yesterday.

Meanwhile, net profit more than doubled to CNY1.2 billion (USD153.4 million) last year. Net investment income rose 35 percent to CNY2.1 billion.

Zhongan was jointly founded by two internet giants Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings, as well as insurance behemoth Ping An Insurance Group, in 2013 as the pioneering example of insurtech, aiming to digitize insurance.

Zhongan will maintain sound operations this year, according to executives. It will pursue premium growth that is above the industry average. Meanwhile, the firm will focus on its underwriting quality despite the macroeconomic pressures and tensions in the insurance industry, they added.

China's commercial health insurance sector has huge potential in the long run and it will play an increasingly important role in the medical system, said Zhongan. Commercial insurance expenses make up 3 percent of all health care costs in China while the rate is 31 percent in the United States, according to the Chinese firm.

Last year, Zhongan had discovered technical means to increase its efficiency while lowering costs so earnings from premiums were enough to surpass the firm's expenses and claims, it said. Thus, the combined cost ratio, meaning the sum of loss and expense ratios, declined to 99.6 percent, down from 102.5 percent.

Zhongan's gross written premiums rose almost 22 percent to CNY20.4 billion (USD2.6 billion) in 2021. The segment of consumer finance was particularly strong as total premiums paid by policyholders more than doubled in that field. GWP of health insurance and digital lifestyle insurance both climbed by 16 percent. But that of car insurance fell 29 percent.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi