Foreign insurers are making rapid headway in China's lucrative group insurance market, displaying strong competitiveness in this newly opened sector.

Days after it clinched regulatory approval to broaden its business scope, Sino-British insurer AVIVA-COFCO Life Insurance Co wrote its first group insurance policies on Wednesday, which it said were the first among foreign or Sino-foreign life insurers operating in China.

Pacific Antai Life Insurance Co Ltd and Nissay-SVA Life Insurance Co Ltd are reportedly also among the first batch of several foreign insurers that were approved to sell group life insurance.

Honouring pledges it made upon joining the World Trade Organization in 2002, China lifted all geographical and business scope restrictions on foreign insurers in December, opening key businesses such as group insurance, health insurance and annuities.

"We really take pride in having taken the nation's first group contracts by foreign insurers," said AVIVA-COFCO President Eric Chang.

The insurer sold its first three group insurance policies to China National Cereals, oils & Foodstuffs Import & Export Corp (COFCO), its Chinese shareholder, Baijia Food Co Ltd and Guowang Technology Co Ltd.

AVIVA-COFCO is a 50-50 joint venture between British insurance giant Aviva Plc and the State-owned COFCO, a leading foodstuffs trader. It was established in January 2003 in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province.

It set up two branches last year in Beijing and Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

There are currently 18 Sino-foreign insurance joint ventures like AVIVA-COFCO operating in China. By mostly partnering with leading local companies, these foreign insurers have gained a major foothold in the lucrative group insurance market, analysts say.

Such a model is likely to prove a powerful weapon for joint venture insurers in China's group insurance market, and may greatly change the market's landscape in a couple of years, they say.

Qu Juwu, the human resources director of AS-SC Investment Management Co Ltd, which owns Baijia Food, said it had quit a Chinese insurer for the better services provided by AVIVA-COFCO.

(China Daily January 14, 2005)