Latest China Headlines

All the headlines from our China Topic Page, ordered by recency.

5 Governments Write to China, Expressing Concern over New & Draft Laws

Mar 1 2016 // The United States, Canada, Germany, Japan and the European Union have written to China to express concern over three new or planned laws, including one on counterterrorism, in a rare joint bid to pressure Beijing into...

AXA’s 2015 Net Income Rises 12% on Life Insurance Sales in Europe, Asia

Feb 25 2016 // AXA SA, France’s largest insurer, said 2015 profit rose 12 percent, helped by higher life insurance sales in Europe and Asia. The shares rose.Net income climbed to 5.62 billion euros ($6.2 billion) from 5.02 billion...

AIA 2015 Net Income Drops 22% on Weak Asian Currencies, Market Volatility

Feb 25 2016 // AIA Group Ltd., the third-largest Asia-based insurer by market value, posted a 22 percent decline in full-year profit as weaker regional currencies and stock-market gyrations detracted from business growth.The insurance...

Texas Economist: U.S. in a ‘Pretty Good Place Right Now’

Feb 22 2016 // The world economy may seem like a mess right now but that doesn’t necessarily mean the United States is headed for a recession, according to an internationally recognized Texas-based economist.While the dive in the...

Why Robots Replacing Humans at Work Is More Science Fiction Than Fact

Feb 19 2016 // Ever since robots emerged from the pages of science-fiction novels into the real world, humans have feared being usurped in the workplace.That worry may be more fictional than scientific. A recent study by the VDMA...

A.M. Best Downgrades Ratings of China’s Hyundai Insurance After Tianjin Blast

Feb 18 2016 // A.M. Best has downgraded the financial strength rating to B++ (Good) from A- (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating to “bbb” from “a-” of Hyundai Insurance (China) Co. Ltd., or HIC. Following...

China’s Fosun Scraps Plan to Buy Israel’s Phoenix, Vowing More Prudent Strategy

Feb 17 2016 // Chinese conglomerate Fosun International Ltd.’s deal to acquire Israeli insurer Phoenix Holdings Ltd. for more than $460 million has unraveled, the firm’s second withdrawn overseas purchase in the past two...

January Weather Cost Global Economy $4 Billion-Plus: Impact Forecasting

Feb 10 2016 // January winter weather cost more than $4.0 billion of economic impact in the United States and Asia, according to Impact Forecasting, Aon Benfield’s catastrophe model development team, which evaluates the impact of...

Chinese Industrial Firms Will Lead Insurance M&A in 2016, to Grow Beyond Asia

Feb 5 2016 // China’s biggest industrial companies want to buy insurers in 2016 as they seek to grow outside Asia as the domestic economy slows and falling insurance rates prompt more firms to do deals, according to Willis Towers...

Liberty Specialty Markets Enters Chinese Market via Lloyd’s China Platform

Jan 28 2016 // London-based Liberty Specialty Markets (LSM), which is part of Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, has joined the Lloyd’s China platform.LSM’s Underwriting Division of Lloyd’s Insurance Company (China) Ltd....

China’s Insurers Received Premium Income of $365 Billion in 2015

Jan 25 2016 // The premium income received by China’s insurance firms hit 2.4 trillion yuan ($364.85 billion) in 2015, the industry regulator said on Monday. This means insurance premium income rose 20 percent last year from 2014,...

Gene Creating Antibiotic-Resistant Superbug Detected in at Least 19 Countries

Jan 25 2016 // Just two months ago, researchers in China identified a gene that can make bacteria resistant to a last-resort antibiotic called colistin. It was a bombshell discovery for people who follow superbugs. Now that gene has been...

China’s Insurance Marketplace Explained in California Symposium

Jan 25 2016 // Few people in the world could probably offer the sort of perspective on China’s developing insurance industry as economist Qixiang Sun.Sun is the dean of the school of economics at Peking University, and director of...

Ironshore International Opens Office in Shanghai; Part of Lloyd’s China Platform

Jan 14 2016 // Ironshore International announced its subsidiary, Pembroke Managing Agency, will establish an office in Shanghai in January 2016 as part of the Lloyd’s China platform.Pembroke Managing Agency will underwrite...

China’s Insurance Marketplace Explained in California Symposium

Jan 13 2016 // Few people in the world could probably offer the sort of perspective on China’s developing insurance industry as economist Qixiang Sun.Sun is the dean of the school of economics at Peking University, and director of...

China’s Cabinet to Take Greater Role in Financial Markets Oversight: Source

Jan 11 2016 // China’s cabinet is set to take on a bigger role in overseeing financial markets, as perceived missteps by existing regulators fuel concerns globally that Beijing may lose its grip on economic policy with growth at...

Costly Tianjin Blasts Have No Effect on Marine Reinsurance Prices: Carpenter

Jan 8 2016 // Reinsurance rates in the marine sector continued to fall at the start of the year, in spite of the huge cost of explosions at China’s Tianjin port last August, reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter said on Thursday.Rising...

Chinese Insurers Form Fund to Finance Overseas Energy, Infrastructure Projects

Jan 5 2016 // More than 40 Chinese insurance companies and asset managers have jointly started an investment firm, raising 40 billion yuan ($6 billion) for a first fund to finance energy and infrastructure projects overseas,...

6 Forecasts for P/C Insurance in 2016

Jan 4 2016 // Some, but not all, experts see an improving U.S. economy in 2016 helping to boost the property/casualty (P/C) insurance sector. Some of these prognosticators are more optimistic than others. But most also anticipate...

World’s Top 10 Insurers Ranked by Premium, Assets

Jan 4 2016 // The world’s largest insurer as measured by 2014 net premiums written is UnitedHealth Group Inc., according to a ranking by A.M. Best of the world’s largest insurance companies.France’s AXA S.A. kept its...