The Chinese insurance industry has experienced rapid expansion over the past decade. In addition to steadily increasing demand, two major supply-side trends have encouraged the development of the industry: (1) under the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and ...

(WTO) framework, the Chinese government lowered entry barriers to foreign insurers, allowing them to establish

joint-venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

insurance firms in China; and (2) domestic insurers strengthened themselves through

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

s and other market developments. (For example, China Life Insurance at one point became the second largest insurance company in the world in terms of

market capitalization Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by ...

although the value has kept declining since the stock market peak of 2008.) As of 2007, China had 100

insurance companies Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

, 59 of which are domestic-funded and the rest 41 are foreign-funded. And five Chinese insurance companies including the People's Insurance Company of China, China Life Insurance,

Ping An Insurance Ping An Insurance known also as Ping An of China (), full name Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. is a Chinese holding conglomerate whose subsidiaries provide insurance, banking, asset management, financial, healthcare services. ...

Company of China, China Insurance International Holdings Co., Ltd. (CIIH) and China Pacific Insurance have listed at home and abroad. China Life Insurance had about a 50% share of the life insurance market; Ping An Life Insurance and Ping An Property Insurance share 16% and 12% of corresponding insurance markets, respectively ranking 2nd and 3rd. Chinese insurers namely China Insurance International Holdings, China Life Insurance, Ping An Insurance, People's Insurance Company of China and China Pacific Insurance were the first wave of insurers to go public. In December 2011, New China Life began a second wave of IPOs for smaller tier 2 insurers. In Jan-May 2007, the increased insurance assets reached RMB 450 billion, without calculation the value-added of substantive financial assets. At present, the gross assets of China Life Insurance have outnumbered RMB 1 trillion. And the total capital of the whole insurance industry has exceeded RMB 200 billion, 5.6 times that of 2002. During the first three quarters of 2009 China's insurance companies had generated profits 36.9 billion RMB of which the seven largest insurers accounted for 90% of these profits. Despite all this growth the industry is still considered in its infancy stage when looking at China's insurance penetration compared to its peers in the rest of

Greater China Greater China is an informal geographical area that shares commercial and cultural ties with the Han Chinese people. The notion of "Greater China" refers to the area that usually encompasses Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan in East ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

."Insurance in China: Growing Pains"
Sam Radwan's quote in ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...

'', December 2011

Organizations

;Insurance Association of China (IAC) The IAC represents the collective interests of the China's insurance industry. The Association speaks out on issues of common interest; helps to inform and participate in debates on

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public ...

issues; and also acts as an advocate for high standards of

customer service Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services. Each industry requires different levels of customer service, but in the end, the idea of a well-performed service is that ...

in the insurance industry. IAC has four working committees which are Life Insurance Working Committee, General Insurance Working Committee, Insurance Agency & Broker Working Committee, Actuarial Working Committee. ;The Insurance Institute of China (IIC) The IIC is the nationwide academic association for research and

policy analysis Policy analysis is a technique used in the public administration sub-field of political science to enable civil servants, nonprofit organizations, and others to examine and evaluate the available options to implement the goals of laws and elected ...

in insurance industry. It offers two publications: ''Insurance Information'' (Biweekly) and ''Insurance Studies'' (Monthly)

List

This is an incomplete list of insurance companies in China. *

China Taiping Insurance Holdings China Taiping Insurance Holdings Company Limited (CTIH) formerly China Insurance International Holdings Company Limited (CIIH), is a Chinese insurance conglomerate. The company has strong Chinese Central Government background despite being incor ...

(formerly China Insurance International Holdings) *

China Life Insurance Company China Life Insurance Company Limited (short China Life, ) is a Beijing-headquartered China-incorporated company that provides life insurance and annuity In investment, an annuity is a series of payments made at equal intervals.Kellison, Stephe ...

* China Pacific Insurance Company * People's Insurance Company of China (including PICC Property and Casualty) *

China Re China Reinsurance (Group) Corporation () ("China RE") is one of the largest reinsurance groups in China. History and Company Background China Re originated from The People's Insurance Company of China, the first insurance company in the People' ...

Minsheng Life Insurance Minsheng Life Insurance Company is one of China's largest insurance companies and one of the six national insurers supervised by China Insurance Regulatory Commission. Its headquarters are in Beijing, China. It provides integrated insurance servic ...

* New China Life Insurance * Anbang * Huaxia Life Insurance *

Taikang Life Insurance Taikang Life Insurance Company Limited is a Beijing-based, China-incorporated life insurance company, the fourth largest life insurer by premium income in China, offers services ranging from life insurance to asset management. It was founded in ...

* Tianan Insurance

References

{{Insurance companies of China *

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

Organizations

List

See also

References