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Foreign insurers foray into China's car insurance market

By Li Huayu (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-04-16 16:41

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Japan's Aioi Insurance, France's Groupama and South Korea's Hyundai Insurance have been licensed to run commercial vehicle insurance businesses in China, bringing the total number of foreign property insurers in the business to eight.

Statistics from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission show that in the first two months, foreign property insurance companies gained about 549 million yuan ($78.45 million) in premiums in China, accounting for 1.49 percent of the country's total property insurance premiums.

Foreign property insurers are all eying China's vehicle insurance market. Quite a number of them have considerable business experience. For instance, Hyundai Insurance, having just upgraded its China branch into a subsidiary, controls a significant share in the South Korean vehicle insurance market, while the United States' Motors Insurance Corporation does well in handling vehicle insurance frauds.

Some foreign property insurers had entered China's vehicle insurance market before the launch of the compulsory traffic accident liability insurance, which later ate away most of their business. Statistics show that from January 2007, Tokyo Marine & Nichido received no more revenue from vehicle insurance, and American Insurance Group also saw great drops in its vehicle insurance premiums.

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The full text is available in the April Issue of China Insurance.