Chinese insurers improve services amid 'difficult year'

Chinese insurers are striving to improve their services to meet "perhaps the most difficult year" for the country's insurance business.

PICC Group, one of the country's largest insurance groups, and its subsidiaries launched a number of innovative measures at the weekend to improve customer service, with the focus on providing more convenient claims for customers. The initiative will go on until June 18.

Sunshine Insurance Group, one of the country's top 10 insurance groups, also launched service-improvement campaign on Sunday, aiming to better understand customer needs.

All these efforts, industry experts say, were aimed to fight against a tough commercial period.

The growth of Chinese insurance companies' premium income slowed in 2012 after decades of robust increases.

Life insurers, key players in the sector, registered meager growth of 2.4 percent last year in premium income, according to the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC).

Calling 2013 "perhaps the most difficult year" of China's insurance business, Xiang Junbo, chairman of the CIRC, said the primary task of the industry will be to maintain steady growth.