(Yicai) Nov. 29 -- The Shanghai Insurance Exchange's international board for reinsurance trading is a more transparent, efficient, and comprehensive reinsurance platform for insurers, according to the chief executive officer of AXA Tianping Property and Casualty Insurance.

"Foreign-funded insurance companies like AXA Tianping can integrate their shareholders' global resources and underwriting ability through the reinsurance international board to carry out inward and outward businesses, thus promoting the two-way opening-up of the market," Kevin Chor told Yicai.

The SIE launched the international reinsurance business trading platform along with the first batch of market rules on Oct. 26, after the National Administration of Financial Regulation and the Shanghai government announced its development in June.

The platform inked its first inward business agreement at the sixth China International Import Expo on Nov. 6, with AXA Hong Kong Property and Casualty Insurance as the original insurer and AXA Tianping as the reinsurer. The trade involved the cross-border motor insurance business in the Guangdong-Hong Kong region that started on July 1, according to the contract.

Compared with traditional reinsurance methods, the SIE's global reinsurance platform provides digital means to improve transaction efficiency and reduce costs, Scott Yin, chief pricing officer and chief actuary at AXA Tianping, told Yicai.

"For example, the global reinsurance trading platform can help solve problems related to cross-border clearing and settlement," said Yin, who is also the general manger of AXA Tianping’s reinsurance center in Shanghai.

The global reinsurance market is still very traditional, as transactions are usually scattered and involve multiple counterparts. Moreover, clearing and settlement between insurers and reinsurers sometimes need to be completed indirectly through brokerage companies, a senior reinsurance industry insider told Yicai.

Such transactions are all-consuming and often involve disputes, such as mismatch of numbers, the insider noted, adding that for this reason, the decentralized direct settlement mode through blockchain and other technologies will be the development trend of the industry.

Regulators' policy support is another important factor attracting institutions to participate in the SIE's global reinsurance platform, Yin said. For example, insurers participating in reinsurance trading on the platform can benefit from a series of preferential policies.

"We value these advantages," Yin noted. "The reinsurance international board is great news and a historic opportunity for the insurance industry."

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione