(Yicai) May 12 -- Four Chinese insurers received fresh capital injections from their foreign shareholders last month, reflecting growing overseas confidence in the market.

The firms were Generali China Insurance, Fosun United Health Insurance, AXA International Reinsurance, and Citic Prudential Life, according to data from the Insurance Association of China and the National Financial Regulatory Administration.

After announcing a EUR40 million (USD45 million) capital injection into its wholly owned Chinese subsidiary in February, Italy’s Generali Group raised that to EUR51 million in April to further expand its presence in China’s property and casualty insurance market.

Citic Prudential received regulatory approval for a joint capital injection of CNY2.5 billion (USD345.4 million) from its Chinese and foreign investors. Its foreign shareholder is British insurance giant Prudential.

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

Foreign insurers’ 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, the report also noted. NFRA data released in January 2024 showed that the value of their assets in the country more than doubled between 2018 and 2023.

The rapid growth in China’s insurance sector and ongoing market liberalization have encouraged foreign insurers to deepen their investments, 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 China’s new quality productive forces, the AIA source noted, using a term often used by Chinese 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 centers in the city.

Digital platforms such as the Shanghai International Reinsurance Registration and Trading Center markedly 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,” he said.

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

Editors: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine