CITIC-Prudential Life gets green light to set up Sichuan branch

CITIC-PRUDENTIAL Life Insurance Company (CITIC-PRU Life) on Wednesday said that it has received approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) to set up a new branch in Sichuan province.

This comes after CITIC-PRU Life's expansion into Anhui province, announced in November last year.

Tony Wilkey, chief executive of Prudential Corporation Asia, said: "Our strategy is to provide families with the protection and savings products they need to secure their financial futures, and the opportunities for us in the Chinese life insurance market are very significant. Over the last five years, our new business sales and profit in China have more than doubled, as has the number of active agents. With Sichuan, we will have a presence in the top 10 provinces in China in terms of life gross written premiums."

Situated at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in south-western China, Sichuan is China's fourth largest province, with a population of 82 million.

In line with accelerated economic growth and ongoing modernisation in Sichuan, demand for life insurance products has grown strongly in the province in recent years. In 2016, it recorded 99 billion yuan (S$20.3 billion) in life gross written premiums, a 43 per cent year-on-year growth.

Established in 2000, CITIC-PRU Life is the first Sino-British insurance joint venture in China.

It has a network of 169 sales offices in 69 cities across 15 provinces. The addition of Sichuan means that the insurer is represented in provinces that generate 75 per cent of the country's gross domestic product and that have a population of 940 million people.