Japanese insurers tie up with PICC unit
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-12-21 10:24

Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. and Aioi Insurance Co. said Monday they had each taken 3 percent stakes in a company formed by People’s Insurance Co. of China Property and Casualty Co. (PICC) to strengthen their China business.

Sompo, Japan’s second-biggest non-life insurer, and Aioi, an affiliate of Toyota Motor Corp., had invested about 600,000 yuan (US$72,500) each in an insurance agent set up by PICC’s holding company in Guangzhou for a stake of 3 percent each, according to Japan’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper.

The new company will start operations in January.

It was the first time for Japanese non-life insurers to participate in the management of a joint insurance agent firm established by a Chinese non-life insurer, the Japanese daily said.

PICC is China’s biggest non-life insurance company. “PICC has an extensive sales network throughout China. We believe the tie-up will help expand our China business,” a Sompo spokesman said.

Aioi, owned 34.4 percent by Toyota, planned to provide insurance policies to Toyota car users in China in future, a company spokesman said.

Japanese insurers, faced with a saturated domestic market, are stepping up investment in Asian countries such as Thailand and China, where life and non-life markets are expanding fast.

Sompo set up a branch office in Dalian last year, but the unit’s business activity has been limited to that city. Aioi has five representative offices in China and it is planning to set up a business base in Tianjin.

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