Global financial institutions boost presence amid China's opening-up

BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Global financial institutions are rapidly expanding their footprints in China, indicating their confidence in the country's continued financial opening up and the enormous business possibilities it offers to foreign investors.

In the latest move aimed at bolstering its life-insurance business in China, CITIC-Prudential Life, an equally owned joint venture between CITIC Group and British insurance giant Prudential, announced earlier this month that its two shareholders will each inject 1.25 billion yuan (about 176.49 million U.S. dollars) to the joint venture's capital.

As a result, the 23-year-old joint venture's registered capital would rise from 2.36 billion yuan to 4.86 billion yuan.

"CITIC-Prudential Life Insurance Company plays a pivotal role in our overall strategy and growth, and we will continue to focus on delivering our customer-led and multichannel distribution strategy in the Chinese mainland," said Prudential CEO Anil Wadhwani, adding that "we remain excited about the significant potential of the business."

Xi Guohua, chairman of CITIC Group, said that the group will continue to increase the complementing advantages of the Chinese and British sides and promote the joint venture's high-quality development.

"CITIC Group will continue to introduce and utilize foreign capital and serve the high-level opening up in the financial sector," he said.

Since its establishment in 2000, CITIC-Prudential Life has experienced steady growth as its registered capital continues to grow. In 2022, the insurer's original premium income was 31.2 billion yuan, a 16 percent increase year-on-year; however, its scale of investment assets totaled 205.6 billion yuan, a 36 percent compound annual growth rate over the previous five years.

With its continued financial market opening up, China, which has the world's largest banking system and the second-largest insurance, stock, and bond markets, is creating broad opportunities for global financial institutions.

In November this year, two foreign-funded insurance brokerage companies -- BMW (China) Insurance Brokers Co., Ltd. and ERGO-FESCO Broker Company Limited -- received authorization to conduct insurance brokerage business on the Chinese mainland.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Andreas Glunz, the legal representative of BMW (China) Insurance Brokers Co., Ltd., said the company will benefit the real economy, especially the Chinese consumers, and themselves, by moving forward with the limitless potential of the Chinese market.

According to Li Yunze, head of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, China has implemented over 50 financial opening up measures in recent years, including eliminating foreign ownership limitations in the banking and insurance sectors and lowering access criteria for foreign investors.

Currently, 30 global systemically important banks all have branches in China, and nearly half of the world's top 40 largest insurance companies have entered the Chinese market.

Li said that even during the three-year COVID-19 pandemic period, Chinese subsidiaries of foreign banks and insurance companies outperformed their parent companies in terms of asset and profit growth rates.

International institutions are also interested in the Chinese securities market. Since China eliminated foreign ownership restrictions for such companies in 2020, the China Securities Regulatory Commission had approved 20 foreign-controlled and wholly foreign-owned securities, futures, and fund companies as of Nov. 8.

Standard Chartered Securities (China) Limited (SCSCL) announced earlier this month that it had been granted a license to begin trading in securities.

China's capital market has adhered to deepening reform and advancing the opening up of institutions, markets and products in other dimensions, while foreign-invested firms have seen improved convenience in business and greater connectivity in cross-border markets, said John Tan, Standard Chartered head of financial markets in Asia and chairman of SCSCL.

Experts believe that the Chinese economy's strong fundamentals have attracted global investors, with more favorable conditions and opportunities projected in 2024.

According to a "Panorama" report released earlier this month by UBS Asset Management, the Chinese economic activity has stabilized amid measured fiscal and monetary stimulus, and forecasted revisions for Chinese growth are beginning to move higher. "We are encouraged by the many ways China has moved up the value chain during its economic development," the report said.