Nationwide Agency Network for CIRC CompletedA nationwide agency network for the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) has been established, with its last agency set up Saturday in Hangzhou, the capital of east China's Zhejiang Province.So far, the commission has set up 31 agencies in different regions of China, according to Feng Xiaozeng, vice-president of CIRC. The agencies will be highly conducive to reducing the risks of the insurance business, and maintaining the order of the local insurance market, Feng said. Such a network is also established for the purpose of accelerating the development of the national insurance industry before China enters the World Trade Organization, according to Lu Zushan, deputy governor of Zhejiang. According to statistics, the total premium of the entire Chinese insurance industry reached nearly 160 billion yuan (about 19 billion US dollars) in 2000, up 14.5 percent over the previous year. At present, there are 10 domestic and one foreign insurance company running business in Zhejiang, which reported a total of 10. 8 billion yuan in premiums last year. |
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