Marsh, the world's largest risk and insurance specialist in terms of revenue, is aiming to double its revenue in China in one year, a top company official said.

The New York-based insurance broker hopes the fast-growing Chinese economy and the increasing appreciation of risk management issues among Chinese companies will help the firm reach its goal.

"We intend to grow quickly and significantly in China and this will happen this year and continue," said Paul Wilkins, chairman and CEO of Marsh Greater China Region.

"We will have 100 per cent more people within one year to service our clients and, hopefully, our revenues will increase similarly."

The insurance broker now employs 80 people in its China operation.

The company is also embarking on an aggressive geographic expansion to drive its growth.

Marsh currently has three offices in China, in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, a number that Wilkins said would at least double within one year.

"We will make these three existing locations bigger and stronger, and we want a broad geographical spread as well, moving from coastal areas into the interior," Wilkins said.

The CEO said that Marsh's business performance in China is already "very good and is growing very fast."

But the CEO, citing company policies, declined to disclose specific figures for China outside its global numbers, which showed the firm earned more than US$5 billion last year.

Securing more Chinese corporate clients will be a major challenge if Marsh is to reach its growth target, as risk management is a relatively new concept to many Chinese companies.

Currently, 75 per cent of Marsh's clients in China are global companies operating in the country, with the remaining 25 per cent domestic firms, a ratio that Marsh plans to change in the coming year.

"In one year from now, we hope that ratio will be 50-50, or even move the other way," said Alexander S. Moczarshi, president and CEO of Marsh's special international operations.

At present, Marsh has about 600 global clients in China, according to Moczarshi.

"The challenge is that we are in a new industry and we need to raise risk awareness in the country," said Moczarshi.

The world leading risk and insurance company is planning to do that through a process of education.

"We have our own seminars planned that will be rolled out in the next four months and we will continue to speak on other professional platforms about risk management," said Wilkins.

The company is also planning to develop a series of risk-related white papers specifically for the China market.

"The environment is changing and there is increasing appreciation and understanding of risk management issues and more and more Chinese companies are coming to us for help," Wilkins said.

"When the development of a large Chinese corporation reaches the phase of selling, investing or raising funds in international markets, the need to implement sophisticated risk management measures becomes pressing and broadly accepted."

The broker launched a China Client Services (CCS) concept late last month in China, a service that it said is designed to allow both large China-based corporations expanding internationally and foreign companies operating in China to better assess and manage business risks on a global basis.

The initiative, which will have China-skilled risk specialists based in various countries, will give clients access to consultants who have an in-depth understanding of China's business and risk scenes, as well as a thorough knowledge of the international arena.

"The CCS concept is based on a proven and highly successful Marsh model used by major Japanese firms for the past 20 years," according to Robert J. Solomon, Marsh's vice-chairman, who was instrumental in establishing the firm's presence in China more than a decade ago.

"Marsh is committed to China as an integral part of our global operations.

"We have increased our commitment to China as more and more of our global clients are coming to this fast-growing economy."

(China Daily 04/06/2006 page11)

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