Taiping Life Insurance approved to open new branch in Hainan

Taiping Life Insurance Co. said it has been cleared by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission to set up a new branch in southern China's Hainan province, bringing its total provincial branches to 35.

As at June 30, Taiping Life reported cumulative premium income totaling 18.99 billion yuan (US$2.79 billion), representing growth of 71.3% from the correspondent period of 2009. Of the total, new premiums accounted for 13.68 billion yuan and renewal premiums accounted for 5.31 billion yuan.

In the first half of 2010, the insurer generated life premiums of 2.09 billion yuan; while single premiums and regular premiums generated from the bancassurance channel were 9.19 billion yuan and 1.29 billion yuan, respectively, said Taiping Life in a statement.

Premiums generated from its multidistribution channels totaled 77.24 million yuan during the first half, up 58.6% year-on-year.

At the end of December 2009, Taiping Life had total assets and total premiums of 79.7 billion yuan and 22.5 billion yuan, respectively. Total cumulative insurance underwriting amounted to more than 1.25 trillion yuan, said the insurer.

The Hainan market had total cumulative original premium income of 2.94 billion yuan in the first seven months of 2010. Of that, 1.69 billion yuan was from life insurance, 1.09 billion yuan from property insurance, 102 million yuan from health insurance and 54.89 million yuan was from accidental injury insurance, said the CIRC.