Generali China Life Insurance, the first insurance joint venture licensed by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) after China's entry into the World Trade Organization, will start operations in Guangzhou this month, a CIRC official said Tuesday.
The joint venture between the Italy-based Assicurazioni Generali and the China Petroleum Finance Company (CPFC), the only financial subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corporation, has registered assets of 20 million yuan (US$24 million) and more than 500 insurance sales agents.
Generali and CPFC
Assicurazioni Generali is one of a few foreign insurance businesses that have been permitted to operate in China. It has been seeking competitive local partners to expand its business in China over the past few years.
The company has already been involved in some technological and financial cooperation projects in China, including offering reinsurance services for large aerospace projects.
Assicurazioni Generali is ranked among the top 20 insurance groups in the world and the third in Europe, operating in 50 countries and regions, including Japan, Hong Kong and the Philippines in Asia.
The CPFC was founded in 1995. The company increased its total assets to US$7.025 billion and made a profit of US$56 million in 2000, ranking first among the 71 financial firms in China.
Insurance market to open gradually
Experts say that after China enters the WTO, its insurance market will be gradually opened wider to the outside world and will become one of the world's top ten markets in 20 years.
China has a population of nearly 1.3 billion. In 2001, its insurance industry had a total premium of 210.94 billion yuan (US$25.4 billion), up 32.19 percent from the previous year.
Life insurance accounted for 67.51 percent of the total to top 140 billion yuan (US$16.87 billion), up 42.76 percent.
( January 23, 2002)
