< The 2014 All-China Research TeamTat Wai (Darwin) LamCitiFirst-place appearances: 0

Total appearances: 4

Analyst debut: 2011A runner-up last year, Tat Wai (Darwin) Lam advances to third place. One avid follower appreciates that the Citi analyst “focuses on the key issues facing the insurance industry, with views that are often spot-on.” Although shares of China’s insurance companies fell 6.2 percent during the 12 months through late November, trailing the broad market by 4 percentage points, Lam professes to being positive on the sector’s prospects. He believes that the life insurance industry cycle “has troughed and is steadily picking up” thanks to new business value growth that has accelerated to double digits and could gain more momentm next year. In addition, he projects that upcoming tax-deferred-pension reform will become a new secular growth driver. As for property/casualty insurance, Hong Kong–based Lam thinks the combined ratio, a measure of profitability that compares incurred losses and operating expenses against earned premiums, is likely to “remain broadly stable as competition stabilizes and regulations remain strict.” Finally, the analyst deems investor concerns about insurers’ balance-sheet quality “overdone.” His favorite stock, on a 12-month horizon, is China Life Insurance Co. Lim forecasts a “steady acceleration in growth” for the Beijing-based provider and is impressed by its defensive balance sheet, which is the least exposed in the sector to nonstandard assets and has the second-highest solvency margin among listed insurers, he notes.