Insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson will launch its first joint venture in China on Thursday to tap the country's burgeoning insurance market, sources close to the situation said.
The company earlier this year won regulatory approval for the venture, to be based in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, and it would make an announcement later on Thursday, the sources told Reuters.
"JLT will particularly focus on big commercial insurance brokerage deals, reinsurance consulting services and transportation-related insurance business in China," said one source familiar with JLT's regional operations.
More than a dozen foreign insurers, including U.S. giant AIG, have dived into China's insurance industry in the last decade, where insurance premiums rose 14 percent to 382.1 billion yuan (25.4 billion pounds) in the first eight months of the year.
Fewer than 4 percent of China's 1.3 billion people have life insurance coverage. The sector is expanding fast as Beijing dismantles a cradle-to-grave welfare system by pushing domestic enterprises to cover staff pensions.
The launch of JLT's Guangzhou venture came as British insurance moves to restructure its global businesses, struggling to cope with falling insurance prices, a weak dollar and rising costs.
Last month, it said it was restructuring its London and international operations after an internal business review. In August, it agreed to sell its U.S. property, casualty and employee benefits businesses to Alliant Insurance Services for $100 million.
JLT will invest 10.2 million yuan in a 51 percent stake in the Guangzhou venture, which will have total registered capital of 20 million yuan, one source said. The rest will be by a little-known Chinese partner. JLT will appoint a general manager of the joint venture in which it will have a day-to-day management role, the source said.
JLT's British rival, Willis Group Holdings Ltd., is already in China. Willis increased its stake in its Shanghai venture, set up in 2004, to 51 percent from 50 percent last year after Beijing lifted the investment cap, making it the first foreign-controlled insurance broker in China.
Source:佚名