China's 1st County-level Insurer Expected to Be Set up

Xiaolan County, a county in south China's Guangdong Province, recently filed an application to concerned authority for establishing a county-level insurance company.

It will be the first county-level insurer in China provided that the application could gain regulatory approval. With local collective companies as shareholders, it will focus on agricultural insurance, commercial insurance, and SME-oriented insurance financial service in appointed region. Notably, it will gain support from local government.

The establishment of the insurer will reduce the county's insurance investment, however it will meet more challenge in risk control and operation due to not-big-enough size and appointed operation region in the future.

Xiaolan County set up the province's first county-level commercial bank with a registered capital of CNY 250 million at the end of 2008. So far, the bank has granted CNY 266 million loans, of which CNY 45.11 million was for agriculture and CNY 217 million was for SMEs.