CITIC-Prudential Life Insurance Company (CITIC-PRU Life) has received approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) to commence preparatory work for the establishment of a new branch in Sichuan province.
This follows CITIC-PRU Life's expansion into Anhui province, announced in November last year.
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 RMB99 billion in Life Gross Written Premiums, a 43 per cent year-on-year growth.
Tony Wilkey (pictured), chief executive of Prudential Corporation Asia, says: "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. We are very excited about this further extension of our reach to include Sichuan."
CITIC-PRU Life has a network of 169 sales offices in 69 cities across 15 provinces. The addition of Sichuan means CITIC-PRU Life is represented in provinces that generate 75 per cent of the country's gross domestic product and have a population of 940 million people.
