Insurers Fighting For Bones In China

Under the regulator's loosened restrictions, the CIRC has licensed 13 new insurance businesses so far this year - mostly to entities new to the financial service sector - up from a total of just 5 in 2011, according to the figures offered by Zhu Xiuqing, an insurance industry analyst from Z-Ben Advisors, a Shanghai-based fund investment consultancy. "There are currently more than 100 applicants in the pipeline for licensing approval from the CIRC," said Zhu.

Despite the proliferation in would-be insurers, Zhu voiced skepticism about the prospects of newcomers in the industry, which is presently dominated by four giants - the People's Insurance Company of China Limited, Taiping Life Insurance Co Ltd, China Life Insurance Company Ltd and Ping An Insurance Company of China Ltd. Meanwhile, over 100 small-scale insurers are suffering losses due to their inability to gain market share, a situation which is unlikely to change soon, Zhu explained.

China's four top insurers accounted for 64.64 percent of China's overall life insurance premiums and 70.54 percent of the country's property insurance premiums, according to figures release by the CIRC on September 21.