(Yicai) May 12 – Four Chinese insurers, including Generali China Insurance and Fosun United Health Insurance, received new investments from foreign shareholders in April, signaling growing interest from international investors.

This group of four local insurers also includes AXA International Reinsurance and Citic Prudential Life, according to data from the Insurance Association of China and the National Financial Regulatory Administration.

For instance, Italy’s Generali, which announced plans to inject EUR40 million (USD45 million) into its Chinese subsidiary in February, increased the investment to EUR51 million last month to further expand its presence in China’s property insurance market.

In another case, Citic Prudential Life received regulatory approval in April for a joint capital injection of CNY2.5 billion (USD345.4 million) from its Chinese and foreign shareholders. Its foreign shareholder is the British-domiciled insurance giant Prudential.

According to the Allianz Global Insurance Report 2024, China’s insurance premiums are projected to grow at an average annual rate of 7.7 percent over the next decade, cementing its position as the world’s second-largest insurance market.

The report also noted that foreign insurers’ total assets in China reached CNY2.82 trillion (USD390 billion) as of Sept. 30 last year, an increase of nearly 18 percent from the end of 2023. NFRA data released in January 2024 showed that between 2018 and 2023, the value of foreign insurers' assets in China more than doubled.

Expansion and Liberalization 

China’s fast-growing insurance sector and ongoing market liberalization continue to attract global players, industry insiders told Yicai. For example, since becoming an independent legal entity in 2020, AIA Life Insurance has expanded its operations from five to 14 provinces. A source at Hong Kong-headquartered AIA expressed strong confidence in the mainland's life insurance market during a March interview, reaffirming the company’s long-term investment plans.

Technological advancements in frontier sectors such as new energy, artificial intelligence, Big Data, and the low-altitude economy are generating new business opportunities tied to “new quality productive forces,” the AIA source noted. The term 'new quality productive forces' is often used by officials to describe the nation's shift to an innovation-based growth model.

Foreign insurers and intermediaries are also increasingly collaborating with domestic partners to support the global expansion of Chinese enterprises in these emerging sectors, leveraging their expertise in overseas markets, the insider added.

Shanghai’s newly launched international reinsurance trading board is also attracting global reinsurers. In March, AXA’s local reinsurance unit and Germany’s Hannover Re established their respective operational hubs in the eastern metropolis.

Digital platforms such as the Shanghai International Reinsurance Registration and Trading Center significantly improve operational efficiency, said Wang Yan, director of property and casualty insurance at Hannover Re China. “We hope to use these platforms to bridge domestic and international markets.”

“We remain confident in both China and the Shanghai market,” Wang said. “Locating our reinsurance hub in Shanghai’s Lin-gang Special Area positions us close to China’s high-tech industries and fuels our growth.”

Editors: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine