In China, just five per cent of the country’s 1.4bn population has insurance. The untapped potential coupled with easier access through technology has meant rapid growth for local underwriters. That makes officials nervous.
China’s insurance regulator has unveiled a new plan to reform online sales. Beijing has pledged stricter regulation of sectors from drugs to big data in a further threat to the information-intense insurance industry. This is consistent with a Tall Poppies scenario for state intervention in sectors with riskily-high asset values. Lex flagged the vulnerability of insurance and healthcare at the end of July.
The Chinese insurance industry has been growing rapidly. Income from premiums rose to more than $700bn last year, according to government data, tripling over seven years. Growing wealth and an ageing population pushed demand for online health insurance by more than 50 per cent last year.