Zurich Financial Services Group has revealed plans to establish a new distribution platform to serve the rapidly growing Chinese insurance market, which will operate under the name Zurich Insurance Brokers (Beijing).
<p>This initiative follows the group's earlier acquisition of a 24.5% stake in Best Harmonious Insurance Brokers Company, a nationally licensed Chinese insurance brokerage firm based in Beijing. The acquisition, which together with the name change has received full regulatory approval, provides Zurich and its business partners with a multi-channel distribution platform capable of delivering general and life insurance products to customers across China. <br /><br />The new platform is expected to leverage Zurich's distribution capabilities in the region, with multiple locations planned. Furthermore, it will expand Zurich's brand presence in the Chinese insurance market.<br /><br />This distribution platform marks a further important step in our long-term approach to the Chinese market, and reflects our broader group strategy of targeting customer, product and distribution capabilities as our paths to profitable growth, remarked James Schiro, Zurich's CEO. <br /><br />The new platform builds upon Zurich's two existing pillars in the Chinese market, complementing both the group's general insurance branch operations in Beijing and its 20% share in New China Life, the country's fourth largest life insurer based on 2006 premiums.</p>