China Life Insurance Company Limited appointed a young Singaporean as its new business leader in its Singapore branch. The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) also increased China's foreign ownership limit for life insurers.
A 29-year Singaporean insurance veteran Lin Xiangyang became the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of China Life Insurance Co. in the Singapore branch, reported Insurance Business Asia. He had been the deputy general manager of the firm's Fujian branch for eight years.
He has also done business strategy and planning, group insurance implementation, channel management, salesforce duties, and agency management for China Life Insurance throughout his 29 years of life insurance experience. He had also been key personnel in evaluating and developing the management framework of China Life Insurance Company Limited.
It was also highlighted that Lin had received several recognitions from China Life Insurance such as the Excellent Management Award for the personal insurance channel. He was even handpicked during a renowned talent management program within China's insurance industry for his marketing management skills.
In other news, The Actuary reported that the China Banking and Insurance Regulation Commission (CBIRC) have implemented a policy that increased foreign ownership limits for life insurers from 51 to 100 percent. The implementation was said to improve the forecasts for China's life insurance market.
China's life insurance market is expected to generate a compound annual rate of 9.6 percent with a premium income amounting to 316 billion USD or 241 billion Euros in 2018 and an increased forecasted amount of 484 billion USD by 2023.
GlobalData, an analytics company, predicted that the implementation would open more doors for foreign life insurance entities that only hold about an 8.1 percent share in China's financial market last 2018.
Furthermore, it was announced that the CBIRC would also relax the requirement that foreign insurers must have had 30 years of operating experience before they would be allowed to enter the market. Furthermore, the CBIRC would also waive the requirement that they must operate within the country for at least two years to earn an office spot within the territory.
Senior insurance analyst at GlobalData Ashish Raj said that China imposing increased foreign participation would bring more benefits to its Chinese constituents. He added that the country could expect a larger influx of foreign insurers applying to new licenses and life insurers increasing their stakes in operating joint ventures due to the policy easements.
