China Is Next Stop For Sun Life Assurance Company

Next destination for Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (SLACC), is China. "We will commence our operations there next month," informed, vice president International Marketing, Gary M Comerford. With China, SLACC will have presence in 26 countries.

The laws of the land do not allow us to get automatic license for the whole country, we need to procure licenses from the authorities for all regions where we intend to operate, he explained. SLACC has tied up with China Everbright CO, a quasi government organisation in China. "It is a 50:50 joint venture there, and we will provide the expertise while, Everbright has the channels of distribution," Gary added.

Sunlife will begin with a single product in Tianxiang, the city where they have procured license for, and SLACC will start operation with wholelife, endowment and term policies. "Although we have plans for expanding our business to other areas, the license for other cities will depend on our performance in the Tianxiang," explained the vice president. There are a set of criteria that needs to be fulfilled before we receive licenses for other cities, he informed.

Initial investment in China will be around $100 million which will be enhanced as when the company procures licenses for other cities.

The Chinese government opened up insurance for foreign private players lately and a number of companies including Max Life Insurance, has made a foray. The environment in China is very different from what it worldwide, explained Gary and we will have to operate differently.

Authorities in China along with the government are very cautious about foreign companies setting up insurance business there, and as such we have to work under a set of stringent norms, he said.

Meanwhile, Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada although faced claims from the September 11 tragedy, total number of claims, Gary said, was well under the reserves the company has accumulated over the years and as such it did not face any kind of crisis. "We are more than capable of handling the losses faced," he added.

Further, as SLACC did not have any office in New York, claims there, were minimal since the company never actively operated in New York.