jianzhong-pan_zenith
Jianzhong Pan, chairman & CEO of China Zenith Insurance
29 October 2018Insurance

China enters ‘golden period’

For an underinsured country with a large population and GDP, the next five to 10 years will be a golden period for the Chinese insurance industry, Jianzhong Pan, chairman & CEO of China Zenith Insurance, told SIRC Today.

“We are of the belief that the insurance industry will maintain the momentum of steady, rapid and profitable growth and deliver more cooperation and benefits to the reinsurance market,” said Pan.

In 2017, national original gross premium was $538 billion with year-on-year growth of 18.16 percent. The original gross premium of property insurance company was $145 billion with year-on-year growth of 13.76 percent.

Over 100 offshore reinsurers are active in the Chinese market, including Lloyd’s syndicates, professional reinsurers and foreign insurance companies.

There are five local onshore reinsurers: China P&C Re, China life Re, Taiping Re, PICC Re and Qianhai Re, and five foreign ones: Munich Re, Swiss Re, SCOR, Hannover Re and Gen Re.

Following China’s joining the World Trade Organization, the insurance industry has developed rapidly, Pan noted.

From 2013 to 2017, the market has moved from number three to number six in the world, and the contribution degree to international insurance market has been up to 26 percent.

“The fast development of the insurance industry comes from the growth of national GDP, increase of social wealth, structure change of population, the government’s high attention for the insurance industry, the expansion of policy-based insurance for agriculture as well as the insurance products enrichment and service standard improvement from the insurance companies, all of which effectively promote the stable and long-term development of the Chinese insurance industry,” said Pan.

This is China Zenith’s fourth trip to SIRC, and Pan is optimistic about what will be achieved at the conference.

“This year we are further speeding up the internationalisation progress, with increasingly close relationships with the markets of UK, Singapore, China HK, Korea and the Middle East, and as a registered Lloyd’s broker, we have more trust and support from our international partners,” he explained.”

The C-ROSS implementation from 2016 has resulted in many offshore reinsurers applying for local reinsurance licences in order to better adapt to the China insurance market, Pan concluded.

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