Challenges to slow foreign insurance firms' growth

FOREIGN insurers may find their expansion in the China market slowed by strict regulations and the lack of professional expertise, an industry report said yesterday.

They face a stringent regulatory environment, competition for professional talents and stiff challenge from domestic insurers, PricewaterhouseCoppers said in a survey covering 18 foreign life insurers and 13 property and casualty insurers.

"There's no doubt foreign insurance companies would like a larger market share in China. It's a hard market to crack," said Tom Ling, PwC China insurance leader. "But there is enormous potential for growth in China as insurance penetration remains extremely low in both life and non-life sectors."

The market share of foreign life insurers may rise to 5 percent in 2015 from this year's 4.3 percent, the report said. But it will be below the 10-20 percent share projected in 2007.

However, over half of the foreign life insurers expect annual premium growth to exceed 20 percent in the next three years due to the variety of products they offer and the relatively small size of premium income.

Meanwhile, the non-life insurance firms expect their market share to remain stable at 1 percent to 2 percent in the next three years.

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