Dutch insurer Aegon NV will set up a life insurance joint venture in China with the China National Offshore Oil Corporation as its partner, a company official said Thursday.
The joint venture, expected to open next year, will be based in Shanghai and will have an initial capital base of US$24 million, chief executive Donald J.Shepard said.
The two partners will each have a 50 percent stake in the venture.
China's rapidly expanding insurance market has drawn a flock of foreign competitors in recent years. As many as 198 overseas insurers have opened representative offices in China, and 26 insurers have obtained licenses to operate in the country.
Over the past decade, the total insurance premium income has been rising at an annual rate of 29 percent. The premium income for life insurance amounted to US$17 billion in 2001, an increase of 43 percent from the previous year.
Shepard said the potential for growth was still great as the insurance business was highly concentrated in big cities, and market penetration was still very low.
Founded in 1844, Aegon is the fifth largest insurance company in the world with total assets valued at US$269 billion. Last year, the company reported a turnover of US$28.6 billion.
(eastday.com May 17, 2002)
