Ping An Feels Crisis

Ping An Insurance,a major Chinese firm,will record a 2.3 billion dollar loss from the financial crisis.It is the result of Ping An's stake in the Belgian bank Fortis,which has been propped up by a cash infusion from Belgium,the Netherlands and Luxembourg.This is the biggest impact to date on a Chinese firm by the financial crisis.The writedown will affect Ping An's profits for the first three quarters of 2008,but the company said it was still financially sound.Fortis was one of the biggest foreign acquisitions by a Chinese financial firm,which are assiduously enlarging their foreign presence.Chinese companies say they have limited exposure to U.S. mortgage-backed securities.