29 February, 2016
China's insurance market became the third largest in the world last year, driven by five years of growth, the country's main insurance regulator has reported.
Total insurance assets in China grew from five trillion yuan ($767 billion) in 2010 to 12 trillion yuan ($1.83 trillion) in 2015, according to figures from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) which were reported by state-owned news agency Xinhua.
Total premiums increased by an average of 13.4% per year from 1.3 trillion yuan ($200 billion) in 2010 to 2.4 trillion yuan ($370 billion) in 2015, Xinhua said. Insurance industry profits over the same period increased from 83.7 billion yuan ($12.76bn) to 282.4 billion yuan ($43.06bn), according to the data.
Xinhua attributed the growth of the industry to the strength of China's economy and people's improving living standards. The Chinese insurance market was the sixth largest in the world as of 2010, it said.
Industry body the Insurance Association of China issued the country's first 'insurance development index' at the end of last year, designed to show the growth and development of China's insurance market against a 2010 base line. In 2014, China's state council announced its ambition to boost insurance premiums to 5% of national gross domestic product by 2020.
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John Bishop, Partner, Pinsent Masons
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