HONG KONG and SHANGHAI, Dec. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. ("Ping An" or the "Group", HKEx:2318; SSE:601318) and FTSE Russell, a leading global index, data, and analytics provider, jointly announce the launch of the FTSE Ping An China ESG Index Series as a part of a new strategic partnership. The Index Series combines the expertise of both organisations, enabling domestic and offshore investors to better integrate sophisticated sustainability considerations into their investment approach in China.

The launch comes as Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues are front of mind for investors globally and aims to provide investors with access to opportunities and orient capital towards companies with strong ESG performance in China's dynamic and strategically important capital markets.

Combining Ping An's proprietary China ESG data and ratings into FTSE Russell's leading China indices, the FTSE Ping An China ESG Index Series represents a meaningful expansion of the FTSE Russell China equity index offering. The index series has a China-specific ESG approach tailored to China's own unique development trajectory and its social and environmental circumstances.

Using the Ping An CN-ESG framework covering 4,000 China A-shares for an overall rating, scores are translated into index weightings. In the case of the FTSE Ping An China A Free ESG Advanced 50 Index the top five companies are ranked by ESG Rating from 10 industries and weighted by market capitalisation. Similarly, the FTSE Ping An China A Free ESG Advanced 100 Index selects the top ten companies ranked by ESG Rating from 10 industries and weighted by market capitalisation. The indices will be reviewed semi-annually in March and September.

Key index highlights:

• China-specific ESG rating

China-specific ESG approach that best suits the country's unique development trajectory and its policy-led social and environmental circumstances

• Assesses China ESG opportunity and risk

Ping An CN-ESG Rating provides unique insights into policy-driven green thematic opportunities in the environmental and green industry space and material social and governance understanding perspectives

• Comprehensive and representative benchmarks

Based on the FTSE China A Free Index, which is a comprehensive and representative benchmark of the China A-Shares market, incorporating large and mid-cap stocks listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange's including the ChiNext Board

• No foreign ownership limits

FTSE China A Free Indices do not apply foreign ownership limits, and therefore accurately reflect the Chinese market for domestic investors

Eugene Huang, Chairman & CEO, Ping An Technology said: "Our partnership with FTSE Russell will enable us to provide more choice to customers looking for greater flexibility and efficiency in their China investment mandate. Leveraging both organisations' core strengths in the China market, we hope to produce China centric products which are appropriate for China's stage of development. Working together with FTSE Russell, we expect to help fill a gap in the market and facilitate the growth in China's ESG investment."

Arne Staal, Chief Executive Officer FTSE Russell, and Group Head of Benchmarks and Indices at LSEG said: "We are delighted to partner with Ping An and build on our position as the first international provider of mainland Chinese benchmarks. The launch of the FTSE Ping An China ESG Index Series combines our complementary expertise in sustainable investing specially for the China market. This partnership affirms FTSE Russell's commitment to the China market and we look forward to working closely with Ping An to advance the expansion of sustainable investing in China, which is one of the world's most dynamic and strategically important capital markets."

You can find additional information on the FTSE Russell and Ping An partnership on the company's website.

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About Ping An Group

Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. ("Ping An") strives to become a world-leading retail financial services group. With nearly 228 million retail customers, Ping An is one of the largest financial services companies in the world. Ping An advances intelligent digital transformation, and employs technologies to improve the quality and efficiency of its financial businesses and enhance risk management. The Company believes "Expertise Creates Value" and "Expertise makes life simple". Ping An develops the "integrated finance + healthcare" service system and builds the "finance + elderlycare" and "finance + healthcare" industry ecosystems to provide professional "financial advisory, family doctor, and elderlycare concierge" services. As China's first joint stock insurance company, Ping An is committed to upholding the highest standards of corporate reporting and corporate governance. The Group is listed on the stock exchanges in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Ping An ranked 17th in the Forbes Global 2000 list in 2022 and ranked 25th in the Fortune Global 500 list in 2022.

For more information, please visit www.group.pingan.com and follow us on LinkedIn - PING AN.

About FTSE Russell

FTSE Russell index expertise and products are used extensively by institutional and retail investors globally. Approximately $20.1 trillion is currently benchmarked to FTSE Russell indexes. For over 30 years, leading asset owners, asset managers, ETF providers and investment banks have chosen FTSE Russell indexes to benchmark their investment performance and create ETFs, structured products and index-based derivatives.

A core set of universal principles guides FTSE Russell index design and management: a transparent rules-based methodology is informed by independent committees of leading market participants. FTSE Russell is focused on applying the highest industry standards in index design and governance and embraces the IOSCO Principles. FTSE Russell is also focused on index innovation and customer partnerships as it seeks to enhance the breadth, depth and reach of its offering.

FTSE Russell is wholly owned by London Stock Exchange Group. For more information, visit www.ftserussell.com