Leading reinsurer Swiss Re has opened a branch office in Beijing as the first step in expansion into China.
The China branch will offer national reinsurance in both life and property to domestic Chinese life insurance companies.
Chief executive John Coomber said the firm had previously had representative offices in Beijing and Shanghai, which limited opportunities to generate business.
'The team can underwrite and make decisions, which before they couldn't do,' Mr Coomber said during a briefing in Beijing.
The company was also looking at an eventual expansion beyond Beijing.
'In future, we'll have other offices around the country,' Mr Coomber said. Swiss Re was not seeking to acquire companies to increase sales but would rely instead on its own offices for expansion. Swiss Re opened representative offices in Beijing in 1995 and in Shanghai in 1996. The Shanghai office will now report to Beijing.
