Insurance market after China´s WTO entrance
It is almost five years since China joined the World Trade Organization on December 11th of 2001.
On Wednesday, China’s insurance market regulators and some 200 industry players are meeting in Beijing to discuss their experience in the past five years and the possible challenges ahead.
Li Kemu, the vice chairman of China’s Insurance Regulatory Commission made the opening speech at the Insurance and Financial Market Forum on Wednesday afternoon. He stressed China is opening to all and will give them equal treatment, whether they are domestic or overseas players. He said there are now 44 overseas insurance companies operating in China, while another 135 have representative offices here. In big cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou, overseas insurers claim some 20 percent of each city’s total premium.
In 1992, AIG set up the first wholly-owned foreign insurance company in Beijing, which is seen as the beginning of China’s opening up of the industry. Another milestone was made in 2004, when China lifted geographic restrictions against foreign insurers and allow them to operate corporate insurance, health insurance and annuity. At present, China restricts overseas life insurers to hold less than 50 percent in their joint ventures. But to foreign insurers, it is still a promising market.
Meanwhile, Li Kemu said the country will further broaden the investment channels for insurance companies. Besides involving in the stock market, banking industry and infrastructure construction, Li said his commission is negotiating with China’s Ministry of Railways, and there will soon be insurance capital flowing into China’s railway.