The Chinese non-life insurance market continued to grow at a healthy clip despite the fallouts of the global financial crisis, according to a report by BRICdata.
Currently, this market is in the grip of domestic insurers, while foreign non-life insurers collectively account for a meagre share of the total non-life insurance market.
It is expected that that large domestic insurers will continue to hold their sway over the market during the forecast period. However, smaller domestic non-life insurers are expected to increase their market share over time.
Despite the strong growth registered by the Chinese non-life insurance market in the 2006-2010 review period, it has still not reached out to the large sections of the populace, owing to factors like lack of product awareness, lack of reach in rural areas and absence of a well defined distribution model.
It should be taken into account that if major banks increase their exposure in this sector, by selling insurance policies and improving the efficacy of the present distribution channels, it will definitely spur a growth in non-life insurance policy volumes.
Though domestic insurers will undoubtedly dominate this market segment, it is expected that foreign non-life insurers will make forays and gradually increase their marketshare.
As has already been discussed, despite the Chinese non-life insurance market’s brisk growth over the 2006-2010 review period, its reach to large sections of people has been restricted due to various reasons. Besides, the protectionist policies of the Chinese government have also not helped in fuelling its growth further.
It is imperative that strategic business decisions should be made making use of top-level historic and forecast market data related to the Chinese non-life insurance industry and various sectors under it.
There is a need to comprehend the trends relating to the demand-side and key market, and growth areas need to be identified within the Chinese non-life insurance industry, says the report.
The need of the hour is to assess competitive trends prevailing in the non-life insurance industry and also the reinsurance segment.
The growth areas and industry trends within key product categories need to be clearly recognised.
It is also important that the key regulations that control the Chinese insurance industry should be understood to foresee what impact it will have on companies operating in this space and the non-life insurance industry as a whole, the report says in conclusion.
The full report ‘Non-Life Insurance in China, Key Trends and Opportunities to 2015’ is available from BRICdata. Click here for more details.