AXA pursues its bid for growth in China

At the beginning of February, AXA-Minmetals was granted a business license to sell insurance policies in Beijing. The joint venture also got the go-ahead to sell group insurance in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing, while its sub-license for the city of Guangzhou was extended to the entire province of Guangdong.

After getting the green light on November 15, 2004 from the CIRC* to prepare for the opening of a branch office in the Chinese capital of Beijing, AXA-Minmetals had six months to complete the preliminary work (hiring, product development, logistics and so on).

In fact, the process took only three months, after which the joint venture was ready to ask the CIRC for the insurance license needed to obtain the business license that was granted on February 4, 2005.

Simultaneously, and pursuant to commitments made by the Chinese government to the WTO, the joint venture was authorized to sell group insurance in every city in which it operates: Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing. The license for the city of Guangzhou was then extended to the entire province of Guangdong, which has more than 75 million inhabitants.

AXA-Minmetals, a life insurance joint venture between AXA and its local partner China Minmetals Group, was established in Shanghai in 1999. It opened its first sub-branch office in Guangzhou in 2003.

* China Insurance Regulatory Commission