BEIJING, March 10 (Xinhua) -- China's insurance industry premium income fell 19.9 percent to 685 billion yuan (109 billion U.S. dollars) in January, according to data from the country's insurance regulator.

This compares with an increase of 18.2 percent in 2017.

Outstanding investment by insurers stood at 15 trillion yuan as of the end of January, up 0.7 percent from the start of the year, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) said Friday on its website.

Some 34.5 percent of the investment went to the bond market, while another 13.4 percent was invested in stocks and securities funds, according to the CIRC.

Total assets of the insurance industry stood at 16.9 trillion yuan at the end of January, representing an increase of 0.93 percent from the beginning of the year.

This came as the CIRC, along with other financial regulators, enhanced regulation of the sector to defuse risks as the country has listed forestalling and defusing major risks as one of the country's "three tough battles" for the next three years.