China Insurance (Holdings) Co Ltd (CIH), the local insurance industry's overseas flagship, witnessed robust growth last year both overseas and at home, where it staged a comeback three years ago, company executives said Sunday.

Premiums totalled HK$10.04 billion (US$1.3 billion) last year, up 50 percent year-on-year, while total assets increased by 38 percent to HK$25 billion (US$3 billion) at the end of the year.

"In 2004, all the overseas branches of the group, except two, made a profit," said Yang Chao, chairman and general manager of CIH, which owns 20 branches abroad, in such markets as the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Singapore.

The Hong Kong-based company also owns reinsurance, insurance brokerage, securities, asset management, as well as tourism subsidiaries.

"This year, we expect all overseas branches to make a profit," Yang told reporters.

At home, the company's life insurance arm in the Chinese mainland - Taiping Life Insurance Co Ltd - saw premiums double last year to 6.6 billion yuan (US$795 million).

And Taiping Insurance Co Ltd, the group's mainland-based property insurance arm, reaped 927 million (US$112 million) in premiums. "Although the growth was less than 80 percent, it was solid," Yang said.

CIH was established in 1931. After it was restructured into a subsidiary of the People's Insurance Company of China, it closed its domestic insurance business but continued overseas operations, building them into the domestic insurance industry's international flagship.

It won regulatory approval three years ago to once again sell policies on the Chinese mainland through its two subsidiaries of Taiping Life and Taiping Insurance.

The two mainland arms have seen expansive premiums growth in the past few years, with business at Taiping Life doubling each year and that at the property insurer soaring by more than 80 percent each year except 2004.

But the growth has been healthy, Yang said, and its mainland operations are not facing the correction many of its counterparts are.

Many Chinese insurers, particularly life insurers, readjusted their business structure last year by trimming unprofitable products and promoting traditional protection-based products.

The adjustments significantly slowed growth, with the life insurance sector recording a meagre 7.2 percent year-on-year average growth last year, down from recent years of double-digit pace. Life insurance premiums even suffered a rare decline in the highly-competitive Beijing market.

"We never simply pursued high premium numbers or bigger market share," Yang said. "We did not take that detour and we are not facing any correction."

(China Daily January 31, 2005)