China cover for foreign firms

China’s insurance regulator is considering opening the market for compulsory automobile insurance to foreign firms, Bloomberg reports.

It reports three sources saying that the China Insurance Regulatory Commission may allow foreign firms to offer mandatory liability insurance. Foreign insurers can now only offer optional car insurance products. Compulsory insurance generates more than 70% of revenue for PICC Property & Casualty Co, China’s biggest non-life insurer.

“The government is no longer worried about foreign companies dominating China’s insurance market,” said Tuo Guozhu, a professor with Beijing-based Capital University of Economics and Business. The proposed relaxations “reflect their confidence in the nation’s own insurance industry.”