Aviva’s joint-venture in China, Aviva-Cofco has received regulatory approval to open additional sales offices in the cities of Zhongshan in Guangdong province and Mianyang in Sichuan province, making it the first foreign insurer to enter these markets.
With the new licenses, Aviva-Cofco will now operate out of five cities in China. It already has offices in the cities of Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu.
The approvals closely follow the Chinese Insurance Regulation Committee’s (CIRC) announcement which ended geographical restrictions on overseas insurers, allowing them to open additional sales offices in each city and also expanding to all of China from 15 cities.