Italy's Assicurazioni Generali SpA, which sold a record US$2.4 billion group policy in China this year, overtook American International Group Inc as the biggest foreign insurer in the world's fastest-growing major economy.

　　This is the first time the New York-based insurer, whose Chairman Maurice Greenberg was ousted last month amid a regulatory probe, lost its top ranking in China since it set up in Shanghai more than a dozen years ago. Trieste-based Generali rose to the top spot from fifth among foreign insurers last year, according to figures released yesterday by China's insurance regulator.

　　International insurers are vying to gain a bigger share of China's US$52 billion market - less than 5 percent of the insurance sold in the United States - as the nation of 1.3 billion people dismantles its cradle-to-grave social welfare system.

　　China allowed foreign ventures, which controlled 2.3 percent of the market in 2004, to sell group policies last year, with Generali among those handed a license. AIG missed out.

　　"The opening of (the group, health and corporate annuity business) will offer foreign insurers a window of opportunity to tap into the huge potential of these sectors," said Lillian Cheung, a senior economist at Swiss Reinsurance Co. "This is particularly important as domestic players enjoy strong franchise in individual life insurance."

　　Life insurance premiums in China grew at an average annual rate of 30 percent in the past five years, making it one of the world's fastest-growing markets. Generali on March 31 completed an agreement to insure the 390,000 retired employees at its venture partner China National Petroleum Corp, the biggest insurance policy ever sold in China.

　　Generali and its partner, China's largest oil company, sold 18 percent of the nation's life insurance market at the end of March, compared with 0.1 percent as of December 31. Generali sold 20.15 billion yuan (US$2.43 billion) of policies in the first quarter, as domestic and foreign insurers sold a total of 112.4 billion yuan of policies.

　　"China and India, being the two largest countries from a population point of view, are obviously the two dream countries from an insurance point of view," said Tim Ferdinand, a managing director at CLSA Ltd, in a Bloomberg interview last month.

　　Generali's venture Generali China Life Insurance Co, formed in 2002, has offices in Beijing, Guangzhou and Foshan.

　　The American insurer, which sold 4.8 billion yuan of policies last year, more than half of the total collected by foreign life insurers, saw its share of the life market fall to 1.29 percent at the end of March from 1.51 percent at the end of 2004, as it isn't allowed to do business in the group, health and pension insurance market.

　　(Bloomberg News)