China Opens Two New Areas to Foreign Insurers

The China Insurance Regulatory Commission announced that it has opened up the insurance markets in the southwestern cities of Chongqing and Chengdu.

Under the terms of its accession to the World Trade Organization China undertook to open its tightly controlled market for insurance and financial services to foreign competition. It recently lifted the restrictions on foreign insurance operations in the capital, Beijing, as well as Tianjin and Suzhou.

Markets in other areas, including Shanghai and Guangzhou were already open to foreign companies. The entire Chinese insurance market is scheduled to be free of geographical restrictions by the end of 2004.