Official opening of Swiss Re branch in Beijing

On 19 December 2003, Chairman Peter Forstmoser and CEO John Coomber were on hand to unveil Swiss Re’s first branch office in China, based in the capital Beijing. The vice-mayor of the city, Zhang Mao, was present at the inauguration, as well as the Swiss Ambassador to China Dominique Dreyer.

Swiss Re was granted a full national reinsurance branch licence from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) in September 2003, allowing it to provide comprehensive reinsurance services to clients throughout China. Eric Gao has been appointed General Manager of the branch with Winston Chou and Simon Lam heading Life & Health and Property & Casualty business respectively.

Coomber’s first task of the day was to thank the Beijing staff for their involvement working up to the launch. Afterwards, the Swiss Re CEO moved on to the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, where he was able to discuss topics of interest with prominent members of China’s insurance and business communities, including Wu Xiaoping, vice-chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission. Over a hundred other guests and dignitaries were present for the inauguration banquet in the evening, held at the same location. Peter Forstmoser, Chairman of the Swiss Re Group, performed the official opening ceremony of the branch, then proposed a toast to the success of the Beijing office, with the guests raising special Chinese wine cups.

"Our managers here in China and in Asia have been working towards this day for more than three years,” commented Coomber, “and our efforts were rewarded in September when we received our national reinsurance licence from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission. This is a major milestone in our relationship with the Chinese insurance industry. China is definitely taking over the limelight as the insurance world’s biggest new growth opportunity. Opening a branch here in China puts us on the path to becoming a true part of the local insurance/reinsurance industry. We view this as an essential step to do business here, and to do so profitably," he continued. "Insurance is a business built on skills and knowledge. Therefore, we strongly intend to contribute to the development of local young talents. In addition, we will also continue to support universities and scientific research institutes in their efforts to conduct research and publish insurance data."

Coomber went on to explain that the Swiss Re Beijing branch will be able to underwrite in Chinese Yuan, thus offering original currency solutions to China's insurers, in accordance with national market requirements, to facilitate local insurers’ access to Swiss Re’s globally diversified balance sheet. Swiss Re opened representative offices in Beijing and Shanghai in 1995 and 1996 respectively and has already established its commitment to the Chinese market, engaging in educational and scientific sponsorships and university research.

The Chinese insurance market has been showing rapid growth for the past decade. A broader spectrum of life insurance products has become available, and investment-linked and partipating policies are garnering an ever-increasing share of the market. Recent growth has been even more spectacular, standing at an incredible 61% in 2002. While life insurance accounted for only 27.6% of total premiums in 1990, it had surged to 74.5% by 2002. Swiss Re's Economic Research & Consulting Department estimates that China's non-life insurance market will grow by a real average annual rate of 10% between 2003 and 2011 to USD 23 billion, while the life insurance market will grow by 17% to USD 120 billion.

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