No contract renewal so Pearce leaves Ping An

By Bei Hu  |   2009-1-10  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

JOHN Pearce has left as chief investment officer of Ping An Insurance (Group) Co, China's second-largest insurer, insiders said yesterday.

Pearce, who was involved in Ping An's efforts to expand its international asset management business, left after his contract expired "recently" and was not renewed, according to the insiders. Sheng Ruisheng, a spokesman for Ping An, declined to comment, Bloomberg News said. His departure came amid pressure on Ping An to scale back its expansion overseas after losses on its investment in Fortis, formerly the biggest Belgian financial services company.

Ping An said on October 5 that it would post an impairment charge of 15.7 billion yuan (US$2.3 billion) in its third-quarter results on losses from its stake in Fortis. The Chinese insurer in November 2007 paid 1.81 billion euros (US$2.5 billion) for 4.2 percent of Fortis.

Ping An's Hong Kong-traded shares fell 4.3 percent. Investment bank UBS AG downgraded the stock. Ping An's Hong Kong shares have lost 54 percent of their value since the end of 2007.