AIA Life Insurance opens in Shanghai under new license

AIA Life Insurance Co Ltd opened in Shanghai on Tuesday after obtaining its business license, thus becoming the first wholly foreign-owned life insurance company on the Chinese mainland.

The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of AIA Group Ltd, will manage AIA's life insurance business on the mainland and is applying to set up new branches.

The establishment of AIA Life marks another landmark moment for the new round of opening-up of China's financial industry, said Wu Qing, Shanghai’s vice mayor.

In the future, Wu said, the city will grasp the opportunity of deepening the financial opening of the country and create a better business environment for Chinese and foreign financial institutions.

 Lee Yuan Siong, CEO and president of AIA Group, said it will continue to provide quality products and services to more Chinese families and attract more talent to join the insurance industry.

AIA set up a branch in Shanghai in 1992, one of the first non-local insurance institutions to be granted personal insurance business licenses after China’s reform and opening-up, and it is the first insurance company to introduce the insurance agent system to China.

In June, the century-old insurer was approved to rebuild its Shanghai branch as a wholly foreign-owned life insurance company, the first of its kind to obtain such approval.