The Fortune Global 500 for 2024 is out! ICBC ranks second among global banks, while Ping An tops the global insurance list

According to the financial news app Zhitong Finance, on August 5th, "Fortune" magazine released the 2024 Fortune Global 500 list. A careful look at this list reveals a typical Matthew effect, where winners keep winning and the strong keep getting stronger. Among this year's Global 500, there are a total of 133 Chinese companies on the list, and the Chinese companies at the forefront are familiar faces. The higher the ranking, the longer they dominate: in the north, there is Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the "largest bank in the universe," with a revenue of $222.48 billion ranking 22nd, second in the global banking rankings. In the south, there is the "insurance giant" Ping An Insurance, with a revenue of $145.8 billion ranking 53rd, maintaining the top spot in the global insurance industry for 6 consecutive years. As a leading insurance company in China, Ping An has been on the list for 15 consecutive years and is highly likely to continue to do so, growing into a century-old Chinese establishment.

It is important to note that the Fortune Global 500 is an absolute "touchstone" of the hard strength of large global companies. The various indicators of the 500 companies on this list, such as total assets and net assets, have reached their highest levels since the establishment of the Fortune Global 500 rankings! Therefore, the Chinese companies on the list can be said to be the most profitable, with the largest customer base and the strongest international competitiveness in China. For example, ICBC has over 12.05 million global corporate customers and 740 million individual customers. Ping An provides "worry-free, time-saving, and cost-saving" financial experiences to 232 million customers nationwide. In other words, 1 out of every 6 Chinese people is using Ping An's products and services.

The hard strength of these companies will also bring soft benefits to individuals and the country.

Being very profitable naturally means paying a lot of taxes. Riding on the wave of reform, Ping An, the "fastest runner" in the insurance vanguard, achieved a net operating profit of 117.989 billion yuan in 2023, equivalent to earning 3 billion yuan a day. At the same time, Ping An paid a total of 100.2 billion yuan in taxes in 2023, accounting for one-sixth of the total national tax revenue, averaging a daily tax payment of 270 million yuan.

Being very profitable also means being willing to spend money for customers. Ping An pays out approximately 630 million yuan in insurance claims every day, and this strong payout capability brings peace of mind.

Being very profitable also means understanding the market and customers very well. Ping An proposed early on to do 9 things for customers, which are "buying a house, buying a car, buying insurance, investing, saving, credit cards, medical care, health, and elderly care." Customers at any stage of life can enjoy quality services such as insurance protection, family doctors, and quality elderly care.

From only 13 Chinese companies on the list in 2000 to the current 133, we have witnessed the steady development of the Chinese economy and the strong capabilities of Chinese companies. Companies are the most direct manifestation of a country's competitiveness, and a group of "dominant" Chinese companies represented by Ping An are integrating Chinese values into the global discourse system with their own strong competitive capabilities