Abstract: Influenced by the continuous decreases of premium level and the restriction on the channels and scales of insurance fund investment in the property insurance industry as well as the development of China’s capital market, China’s property insurance industry is faced with more and more financial risks. Combined with the classical DFA model and the Copula theory, this paper constructs a financial risk measurement model for property insurance companies. It also conducts an empirical study with the historical data of PICC from 2001 to 2011. The results show that in order to gain the current yields the property insurance companies are undertaking excessive financial risks. To increase the proportion of the investment fund and to increase the reinsurance rate can both improve the performance of the insurance companies, but the effect of increasing the reinsurance rate is more significant. Therefore, to increase the reinsurance rate is the main method to improve the performance of the insurance companies under current conditions.

Key words: property insurance; financial risk; Copula function