First PPP reinsurer opens for business

Three State firms hold 60% stake in Qianhai

Qianhai Reinsurance Co Ltd officially launched its business on Wednesday, becoming China's first reinsurer created under a public-private partnership.

With a registered capital of 3 billion yuan ($436 million), the Shenzhen-based reinsurer will carry out business in property and casualty reinsurance as well as life and health reinsurance, according to the insurer's official statement.

Three State-owned companies－Shenzhen Qianhai Financial Holdings Co, China Post Group and Shenzhen Capital Investment Co Ltd－jointly own a 60 percent stake in the new reinsurer. The rest of the shares are owned by four private companies, including Zhejiang Aishida Electric Co Ltd and Chinese fashion brand Fujian Septwolves Industry Co Ltd.

The establishment of the reinsurer underscores China's effort to develop its reinsurance market and encourage private capital to participate in the country's financial system. The government has set the goal of expanding the Chinese reinsurance market to 330 billion yuan of premiums by 2020.

Feng Hongjuan, who is expected to be appointed as the chairman of Qianhai Re, said that the reinsurer will take advantage of its location in Shenzhen, one of the hubs of financial innovation and the modern service industry in China, and will seek broader opportunities in overseas markets.

"While focusing on the reinsurance business in the domestic market, we will seek to strengthen cooperation between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong markets and to explore opportunities in the countries along the Belt and Road Initiative," Feng said in a statement.

Wang Guojun, an insurance professor at the University of International Business and Economics, said the establishment of Qianhai Re will increase competition in the Chinese reinsurance market, which is in urgent need of development.