CHARTIS, the property and casualty arm of American International Group, aims for China to be its biggest investment spot among developing countries as it seeks to tap the nation's economic growth and the opening-up of the insurance market.

The company is eying positively the growing insurance needs from Chinese companies when they expand overseas as well as new opportunities in the auto insurance market whose opening to foreign insurers was recently announced, executives said yesterday.

The company welcomed Vice President Xi Jinping's announcement of the long-awaited opening-up of the country's compulsory auto insurance business to foreign insurers during his US visit.

"The growth rate of the property and casualty markets is linked to the increasing gross domestic product of a country, and though China has shown signs of cooling, the market is still the single biggest opportunity on the planet for Chartis and AIG," said Christopher Townsend, president and CEO of Chartis Asia-Pacific.

He said the company's recent study found that China top other developing countries in macro-economic conditions and insurance potential in the next 10 to 15 years, and China will get the most investment to ensure sufficient expansion.

As part of the plan, the company yesterday opened its fifth Chinese branch in Jiangsu Province to meet the needs from rising cross-border operations of Chinese firms in Europe, UK and South America.