UK insurer Aviva has received regulatory approval for its joint venture company, Aviva-Cofco, to establish a branch based in Changsha, the capital city of Hunan province, in south central China. Aviva-Cofco is ranked fifth among foreign insurers in China in terms of total premium income.
This new branch licence will bring the total number of cities in which Aviva-Cofco has operations to 13. With branches in six major cities and seven further sub branches, Aviva is closer to reaching its long-term ambition of achieving an average 10% market share in 10 provinces or municipal cities by 2010, referred to as its “10 by 10 by 10 strategy”.
The province of Hunan has a population of 65.6 million people. In 2005, Hunan’s gross domestic product (GDP) was RMB647.36 billion and its growth was 11.6% compared with the national level of 9.9% in the same year. Changsha is the financial centre of Hunan, with a population of 5.7 million, and is ranked 19th amongst China’s top 50 cities in terms of economic strength.
“This new development is in line with our longer-term strategic growth ambitions for China and further extends our reach in this growing market,” says Charles Anderson, regional managing director of Aviva Asia.