BEIJING - Chinese insurance companies' premium income topped 805.66 billion yuan ($123.95 billion) in the first half of the year, up 13 percent year on year, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) said.

In the first six months, premium income from the property insurance business rose 16.9 percent from a year earlier to 235.96 billion yuan, while life insurance premium income rose to 569.7 billion yuan, the CIRC said in a press release about the performance of the insurance market.

Chinese insurers earned 103.11 billion yuan from their investments in the first half, an average return on investment of 2.1 percent, according to the CIRC.

CIRC Chairman Wu Dingfu warned of "great challenges" to the insurance market amid rising inflation pressure and higher interest rates.