Life insurers are moving into the mainland to meet demand from a growing middle class for financial security, according to Manulife's vice-president and general manager in Hong Kong, Edward Lau Wan-kong.
Manulife, which is about to move its China headquarters to The Lee Gardens in Causeway Bay, has been licensed to open an office in Shanghai following insurers AIA and Tokyo Marine, and Mr Lau estimates more than 80 other foreign insurance firms are in China jockeying to get licences.
Attention was focused most on Shanghai where the licensed insurers and others all had representative offices, he said.
'Shanghai has all the attributes. It is the financial centre for China traditionally and currently; it is exposed to foreign ideas and it has a middle-income group. Life insurance is a product for them; it offers them financial protection,' he said.
Mr Lau said the company hoped to expand to the rest of China.
The Manulife presence in Shanghai is in the form of a joint venture, conforming with rules introduced after AIA and Tokyo Marine set up shop. Its joint venture, operating under the name Zhong Hong with mainland company Sinochem, is the first in China to specialise in life insurance.