The Insurance Association of China revealed that small and medium-sized insurance firms in the country currently dominate the burgeoning online life insurance market, accounting for 82% of total sales.
These insurance companies collected a total of Rmb29bn (USD4.68bn) online life premiums, or about 82% of the total Rmb35.3bn (USD5.7bn) online life insurance premiums.
The association said nine of the top 10 online life insurers in China are small and medium-sized insurance firms, led by Life Everbright Life with a 16% share of the market and ICBC-AXA Life Insurance, which takes up 12% market share.
Foreign-owned life insurers are also afforded more prominence in the Chinese market through online channels although their share of the total life insurance market in China is only around 5%.
Of the 73 companies operating in China’s life insurance market, 52 used the Internet as a distribution channel in 2014.