A massive appetite: Insuring China

Despite the global economic downturn, the growth of China’s insurance market continues. Total premiums grew a massive 31.3% between 2007 and 2008, according to Swiss Re (40.9% and 14.8% for life and non-life insurance respectively).As insurance take-up increases, the assets at risk from natural hazards also grow in value. With cities such as Shanghai and Beijing exposed to typhoons and earthquakes, many insurance experts think China will become a major “peak zone” in just a matter of years.“I think China is going to become a major peak and probably the peak in the world, just simply because China is so big,” says James Few, managing director of Aspen Re. “There are cities of 20 million people in China that Western insurance professionals have often never heard of – it is an enormous place.“China is vulnerable to just about every type of peril you can think of,” he continues. “With so much value, so many people and a growing economy, you would naturally assume that insurance penetration rates are going to rise in the five to ten year timeframe.”