Banks and Insurance Companies Expanding CooperationBanks and insurance companies have again set off an upsurge of cooperation. China's largest property insurance company, the People's Insurance Company of China (PICC), recently signed agreements on all-round cooperation with four largest domestic banks -- Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of Communications and Bank of China.The PICC has a history of long-term business cooperation with the four banks. The two sides have established relations of agency, i.e. the PICC entrusts banks with collecting insurance expenses and paying insurance money and banks handle insurance business for the People's Insurance Company. This time, on the basis of such traditional business, the two sides will conduct their cooperation in settlement through networks, contracted deposits and other business with market potential. The PICC, with registered capital of 7.7 billion yuan and a business volume currently accounting for over 80 percent share of China's domestic property insurance market, is the largest State-owned property insurance company of China. It's reported that under the respective unified authorization of the PICC and the four banks, their branches scattered all over China will also quickly carry out their business cooperation. Sources say that the all-round cooperation between the two sides will greatly reduce the PICC's cost of expanding its business and enhance the permeability of its insurance business, meanwhile it will also increase the agency intermediary business of the banks and broaden the channels for their business income. By PD Online staff Deng Gang |
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