Tag: Asia

China plans to allow its banks and postal services to set up insurance companies as it moves to diversify the structure of the expanding industry. The country’s insurance regulator is studying the possibility of letting commercial lenders and postal service bureaus establish insurance ventures, Wu Dingfu, chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, said Friday at the regulator’s annual conference in Beijing. “We are encouraging more entities to join in the insurance sector, and the potential participants include large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises, banks and the postal services authority,” Wu said. China Post, the national authority of postal services, has teamed up with France’s CNP Assurance to set up a life insurance venture in Beijing. While China Post signed the agreement with CNP in 2002, the 50-50 joint venture is yet to start selling policies. “The joint venture [Sino-French Life Insurance Co] is still pending the final green light from the authorities to go ahead,” a source said.