Two people chat outside the headquarters of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. Photo: IC

German reinsurer Hannover Rück SE's Shanghai branch has recently been approved by Chinese authorities to increase its registered capital by 1.56 billion yuan ($220 million) to 4.105 billion yuan in China, with the firm betting on the country's huge reinsurance market despite the COVID-19 fallout in the global economy.

The move came after Hannover Rück SE's Shanghai Branch increased its registered capital by 1 billion yuan to 2.545 billion in September 2019, with business growing fast in the Chinese market, according to a statement posted on the website of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) on Monday.

With the Chinese reinsurance market showing huge growth potential, foreign reinsurers are paying more attention to the long-term prospects of the market and are stepping up investment in China to become improve their capacity.

The CBIRC said in the statement that it would actively implement the central government's call to boost all-round opening-up and to support foreign reinsurers to join the construction of the domestic reinsurance market and promote the marketization and internationalization of the market.

In recent years, the number of foreign-backed reinsurers has risen steadily, with their capital and sustainability strengthening remarkably. In December 2019, Korean Reinsurance Company Shanghai Branch was approved, bringing the total number of foreign-backed reinsurers to seven.

Global Times