Allianz welcomes plans to open Chinese insurance market to foreigners
FRANKFURT, April 9 – German insurer Allianz on Thursday welcomed plans by China to open its insurance market to foreigners and underscored its desire to expand there.
China plans to make it easier for foreign life insurers to make controlling acquisitions and large equity investments in domestic peers, Reuters reported earlier on Thursday, citing five people with knowledge of the matter.
In an emailed statement to Reuters, Solmaz Altin, regional chief of Asia Pacific and chief executive officer of Allianz China, welcomed “further liberalization of the Chinese insurance market.”
Altin said Allianz would like to increase its presence on the ground “through increasing the ownership of existing JVs or acquiring other companies with good growth potential.”
Earlier this year, Allianz founded Allianz China Holding, the first fully foreign-owned insurance holding company in China.
“China is a very important market for Allianz,” Altin said.
(Reporting by Tom Sims Editing by Nick Tattersall)
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