Foreign insurers expanding presence

China is the world's second-largest insurance market behind the US. Last year, premiums in China stood at 417 billion euros ($456 billion), contributing 48 percent of total premiums in Asia excluding Japan, said a report issued by Allianz SE, a German multinational financial services company, on May 22.

Ten years ago, the size of the Chinese market was still roughly a third of the Japanese one in terms of premiums. Today, it is 40 percent bigger than that of Japan, which it surpassed in 2016, according to the report.

Allianz forecasts that China will be the decisive force in global insurance in the years to come, with its global market share set to double over the next decade to more than 20 percent.

China is central to the growth strategy for Allianz Asia, whose focus is to contribute to the continued development and innovation of China's fast-growing insurance sector to better serve Chinese customers and communities.

With this in mind, Allianz and JD reached an agreement last year on JD's 483 million yuan ($68 million) investment for a 30-percent stake in Allianz China General Insurance Company Ltd. After the deal, Allianz SE's shareholding in the digital general insurance business dropped from 100 percent to 50 percent as three other new investors took up a combined 20-percent stake.

Leveraging JD's position as one of China's leading e-commerce players, the partnership will drive the insurer's efforts to reach an increasingly digitally savvy demographic.

Starting from 2017, China has ramped up efforts to further open the financial markets to foreign companies. The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission in July announced a series of new opening-up measures to optimize the business environment for foreign investment in the financial sector, enrich the market supply and enhance market competitiveness.

The commission will entirely remove the cap on foreign ownership for life insurance companies by 2020, a year earlier than originally planned. It will also allow foreign investors to hold more than 25 percent stakes in insurance asset management firms.

"The new round of opening-up measures for the insurance industry announced by top Chinese regulators has signaled more development opportunities for foreign insurers. The new measures will bring more institutional players into the market to provide more diversified and superior products and services to the Chinese market," said Zhang Kai, chief executive officer of Manulife-Sinochem Life Insurance Co Ltd.

As the first Sino-foreign life insurance joint venture, Manulife-Sinochem has expanded its footprint across 51 cities in China over the past 23 years.

To date, the insurer has been providing holistic health and retirement solutions and insurance services to 1.7 million customers through multichannels of professional agents, digital platforms and bancassurance, an arrangement between a bank and an insurance company allowing the insurer to sell its products to the bank's client base.

A growing number of foreign insurance companies will benefit from the measures to further open up China's financial sector.

On Nov 25, Allianz announced that it had received regulatory approval for the preparatory establishment of Allianz (China) Insurance Holding Co Ltd. The new Shanghai-based firm will be China's first wholly owned foreign insurance holding company.

"This is a significant milestone for us to anchor Allianz Group's long-term commitment to China by enhancing its strategic and financial flexibility to capture business opportunities and drive long-term success in the market, to expand our presence and enhance flexibility to increase investment in the fastest-growing insurance market in the world," said Solmaz Altin, regional CEO for Asia-Pacific at Allianz.

Upon receiving the preparatory license, Allianz has been working hard on the preparatory work and is well on track.

"We welcome efforts made by the Chinese government to further open up and encourage investment in China by foreign financial insurance institutions. For Allianz, this means local customers will be able to take advantage of our comprehensive financial and risk management solutions and services, and benefit from the continued growth and liberalization of China's financial markets," said Altin.

Hu Yuanyuan and Li Xiang contributed to the story.