Bank of China (BOC) Group Insurance Co Ltd, the property insurance arm of BOC, has secured remarkable premium revenue in 2007, Xinhua learnt on Wednesday.

Revenue from insurance premiums stood at 5 billion yuan ($714 million) last year, more than triple that of 2006, Duan Qiuping, BOC Insurance president, revealed.

He attributed the growth to a so called bank-insurance mode adopted by BOC, by which the insurer can take advantages of BOC's brand name, good reputation, client resources, distribution channels and business opportunities.

Bank-insurance mode, also called Bancassurance mode, means lenders and other different financial sectors cooperate to share advantages. This was first introduced in France, and only a few Chinese financial institutions have employed it up to now.

BOC Insurance was established in 2005. It covers insurance in property loss, liability, credit and guarantee, short-term health and accident damage and the reinsurance of the foresaid businesses.

According to Duan, the insurer was gearing up to enlarge its business scope as well as to expand its outlets in the mainland in the near future. Currently, it has 16 branches nationwide, including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Fujian, Hunan and Shaanxi.

BOC Group Insurance Co Ltd, which was initially founded in Hong Kong, set up its Shenzhen branch in 1996, the first mainland outlet.