China's first specialized pension firm may be launched as early as next month to enter the nation's potentially vast annuity market, its biggest shareholder, Taiping Life Insurance Co. Ltd., said yesterday.

Preparations are nearly complete in terms of systems development, product design and personnel for the recently approved Taiping Pension Co. Ltd. Taiping Life owns 60 percent of the new firm.

"Preparations are basically complete and we will soon apply for regulatory approval (to commence business)," said Xie Yiqun, chairman of both Taiping Life and Taiping Pension. "In the fastest scenario, the review may be finished as early as July."

The China Insurance Regulatory Commission approved the establishment of Taiping Pension earlier this month, shortly after the nation's first regulations on business annuities became effective in May.

The new regulations lay the legal framework for an annuities system in China, under which businesses are encouraged to build up pension funds for employees, with the employees' own contributions. Companies such as Taiping Pension are entitled to be custodians, asset managers and bookkeepers of such funds, which are expected to grow to 100 billion yuan (US$12 billion) in a few years.

A pilot program is well underway in the three provinces of northeast China. Enterprises are being encouraged to set up annuities, which are eligible for tax exemptions if the amount is below 4 percent of the total payroll.

Taiping Life, which is the only insurer participating in the pilot program in Liaoning, one of the three selected provinces, is in talks with enterprises there about annuity contracts for the pension firm that comply with the new regulations, according to He Zhiguang, the company's general manager.

"I hope we will have numbers to report in just one or two months," He said.

Executives say the pension firm will sell its products through its own marketing channels as well as those of Taiping Life, and its marketing strategy will focus on state-owned enterprises and foreign-invested companies in the relatively rich coastal areas.

Taiping Life officials pledged a prudent investment strategy for the annuities the new firm will be managing, but declined to reveal whether it will promise that the annuities under its management will not fall below their original value.

"There will be a very strong investment team upon our establishment," said Wang Lianwan, assistant general manager of Taiping Life, who will also head the pension firm's investment department. Taiping Life is also talking with leading domestic fund management firms about cooperation, and may set up an asset management company to manage the annuities if necessary, he said.

Analysts said China's annuity market has enormous potential as the nation continues to reform its pension system with increased contributions from businesses and individuals. Although total business annuities stood at only 35 billion yuan (US$4.2 billion) at the end of last year, the number is expected to exceed 1 trillion yuan (US$120 billion) when the market becomes fully developed.

According to a recent survey sponsored by Taiping Life, which covered 338 enterprises, 35 percent of the respondents had plans to set up annuities.

But most businesses are still not clear about the benefits of annuities arrangements, and the lack of a favorable nationwide tax policy will restrict the growth of the market in the near term, analysts say.

The tax exemption policy has been applied only in the three pilot provinces, and has yet to be expanded to other regions.

(China Daily June 17, 2004)