 |
New Zealand Insurance Company Eyes China Market
Tower Corporation Holdings Ltd., the largest financial service firm in New Zealand, will focus on China's regional market, as China is becoming an insurance market with the most potential in the next five to ten years after it enters the World Trade Organization.
James Boonzaier, group managing director of Tower, quoted official statistics as saying that China maintained a steady economic growth of seven percent amid a shrinking global economy last year, which shows the country's deep-rooted economic foundation and great potential.
Insurance is one of the most important parts of financing here in China, and will attract many overseas enterprises, he said.
Boonzaier said that China has gradually opened up its insurance market, and the process will be spread from big cities like Shanghai to other places.
Tower, which launched its representative office in Beijing in April last year, "will soon set up distributing channels in provincial areas and cooperate with local partners" as "China's insurance market covers a wide geographical range with more and more intense competition," he said.
Boonzaier revealed Tower plans to launch a China Fund in 2002 to help overseas investors manage their investments in China. Tower has started training local personnel in China.
Tower, a listed company in New Zealand and Australia, was founded in 1869 and offers a wide range of financial services including savings and investment, risk insurance, asset management and trustee services. Its business has grown at an average annual rate of 25 percent since 1990.
In This Section
|