| 2.21 | Employee Benefits |
| (a) | Retirement benefits |
The Group participates in defined contribution pension schemes. For defined contribution plans, the Group pays contributions to publicly or privately administered pension insurance plans on a mandatory, contractual or voluntary basis. The contributions are recognized as employee benefit expenses when they are due. Prepaid contributions are recognized as an asset to the extent that a reduction in the future payments is available.
| (b) | Medical insurance |
The Group’s contributions to basic and supplementary medical insurances are expensed as incurred. The Group has no further payment obligations once the contributions have been paid.
| (c) | Housing benefits |
One-off cash housing subsidies paid to PRC employees are charged to the statement of income in the year in which it is determined that the payment of such subsidies is probable and the amounts can be reasonably estimated.
The Group’s contributions to the housing fund, special monetary housing benefits and other housing benefits are expensed as incurred. The Group has no further payment obligations once the contributions have been paid.
| (d) | Supplementary benefits |
In addition to participating in local governmental defined contribution social insurance, subsidiaries of the Group also provide other post retirement supplementary benefits to their employees, including supplementary pension allowance, reimbursement of medical expenses and supplementary medical insurance. These post retirement supplementary benefits are accounted as defined benefit plan. The present value of the defined benefit obligation is included in non-current other obligations and salary and welfare payables (current portion). The liability is remeasured with sufficient regularity and the movement of the remeasurement is recognized in other comprehensive income, which is not allowed to reverse to profit and loss in subsequent period. As of December 31, 2017, the amount of the liability was RMB68 million (2016: RMB75 million).
| (e) | Share-based compensation costs |
The Group operates an equity-settled, share-based compensation plan. The fair value of the employee services received in exchange for the grant of the share options is recognized as an expense. The total amount to be expensed over the vesting period is determined by reference to the fair value of the share options granted at the grant date excluding the impact of any non-market vesting conditions (for example, revenue and profit targets) and is not subsequently remeasured. However, non-market vesting conditions are considered in determining the number of options that are expected to vest. At each statement of financial position date, the Group revises its estimates of the number of share options that are expected to vest. The Group recognizes the impact of the revision of original estimates, if any, in the statement of income of the period in which the revision occurs, with a corresponding adjustment to equity.
The equity amount is recognized in the employee share-based compensation reserve until either the option is exercised (when it is included in the amount recognized in share capital for the shares issued) or the option expires (when it is released directly to retained profits).