China's insurance regulator, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), has laid out new rules allowing Chinese insurance companies to diversify their investment channels to include Private Equity and Real Estate. The new rules afford Chinese insurers the chance to invest up to 10 percent of assets in real estate, as well as investing a further 5 percent of assets into private equity investments…

Chinese Insurer, Taiping Life Insurance Co., has been given approval by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) to set up its newest provincial branch in Hainan Province. With approval from the CIRC to open the new branch office, Taiping Life Insurance will now have 35 provincial branches throughout China. Hainan Province's insurance market brought in RMB 2.94 billion (USD 433 million) in…

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) of Taiwan has recently announced it has rejected the planned purchase of the life insurance unit of AIG in Taiwan by Primus Financial Holdings Ltd. It is believed the FSC had concerns about Primus, which is based in the Cayman Islands, may be backed by funds from mainland China, thus in violation of the Taiwan law that prohibits Chinese investment in the financial sector.

China Life Insurance Company Limited (China Life), the largest life insurance company in China by premium, has started to shift its sales strategy towards the bancassurance distribution channels. As a first for the company, the bancassurance channel has contributed more than 70% of the company's insurance premiums for the first half of 2010, becoming a vital premium generator for the company.

The European Commission has given its approval for MetLife's purchase of AIG subsidiaries American Life Insurance Company (ALICO) and Delaware American Life Insurance Company (DelAm), as part of MetLife's takeover of AIG's international life insurance business. MetLife's…

AIA Group Chief Marketing Officer, Chris Wei, recently communicated that Asia is the global leader in terms of growth in the life insurance market. According to figures released by Mr. Wei, the annual growth rate of life insurance premiums in Asia is 17 percent, compared to 11.6 percent in Europe and 4.9 percent in North America. These figures were shared with the Financial Services Council of Australia in a conference in the city of Melbourne.

Indonesia-based joint venture life insurance company, CIMB Sun Life, has been honored as "Best New Company of the Year" by the International Business Awards, also known as the Stevie Awards. CIMB Group, a universal bank in Southeast Asia headquartered in Malaysia, and Sun Life Financial created the Indonesian-based joint venture CIMB Sun Life which started operations in July 2009. The joint…

The life insurance industry in Singapore is riding high, after growth in new sales of life insurance and health insurance policies continued into the second quarter of the financial year. The new business premiums in the Singaporean life insurance market were up 16% year-on-year for the second quarter, with figures for the first half of 2010 showing total weighted new business premiums growing…

Reliance Life Insurance, an Indian life insurance company owned by the Reliance - Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, is planning on hiring large numbers of new sales managers and insurance agents to meet its ambitious goals for expansion. Reliance Life Insurance intends on hiring 3,000 new sales managers and 150,000 new insurance agents by the end of the Indian fiscal year, which runs from April 2010…

Manulife Life Insurance Company (Manulife Japan) has recently launched a new variable individual annuity insurance type V product which will be sold through the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.