"Swiss Re has a long-standing relationship with the Chinese insurance industry, and the Chinese market is of strategic importance to Swiss Re. Recently, Jonathan Rake (Chinese: Ruichengsong), CEO of Swiss Re Corporate Consultants Asia Pacific, a direct insurance company of Swiss Re, came to Shanghai to attend the company's board meeting, during which he was interviewed by a reporter from the brokerage China.
Jonathan Rake is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Swiss Re Corporate Enterprises*** and Chief Executive Officer of Swiss Re Corporate Solutions Asia Pacific, as well as a member of the Swiss Re Corporate Solutions Global Operations Management Team. Jonathan Rake not only has many years of experience in the insurance industry, but also has a deep understanding of the Asia Pacific market.
He told Brokerage China that China's promotion of high-quality economic development and the continued opening up of the financial sector will bring huge opportunities and growth potential to Swiss Re Enterprises and the entire insurance industry. "The Chinese market continues to show great potential and is an important part of Swiss Re's growth strategy in the Asia-Pacific region. Jonathan Rake said.
As the world's second largest insurance market, China's insurance market is expected to double in the next decade, and China's property insurance premiums will grow strongly by about 8% from 2024 to 2025, which is still very attractive to foreign institutions, according to Jonathan Rake, citing the Swiss Re Research Institute.
Swiss Re Corporate Solutions has been working in the Chinese market for many years. In 2010, a representative office was established in Shanghai, and in 2015, it officially entered the Chinese market through the acquisition of Royal Sun United (China)**. Currently, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions is mainly engaged in non-motor insurance business in the Chinese market, including property insurance, accident and health insurance, liability insurance, construction insurance, credit guarantees, global insurance policies, etc. At the end of March 2023, the registered capital of Swiss Re Corporate Solutions increased from 66.9 billion yuan increased to 7700 million yuan. With the capital increase, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions' solvency has been further strengthened.
Jonathan Rake believes that China's 14th Five-Year Plan, which emphasizes high-quality development, green development, and the promotion of technological innovation, could become a new driving force for premium growth in the insurance market. "We are confident in our competitive advantage and business focus. He said that some of the contents of China's national development strategic plan are very consistent with the company's development direction.
For example, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions has extensive experience in the renewable energy sector, particularly offshore wind farms, and is currently 100% involved in the offshore wind farm business in China. This echoes the content of green finance and inclusive finance emphasized by China's first financial work conference. Another example is the rapid development of new energy vehicles in China, compared with the traditional automotive industry, the new energy vehicle industry in manufacturing, the first chain and other aspects of the new energy vehicle industry to show a new risk map, Swiss Re enterprises have a lot of innovative research in the risk of new energy vehicles.
Jonathan Rake said that in addition to its core business in the large commercial sector, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions plans to leverage technology and channel partnerships to expand its business into targeted mid-market markets to meet the growing demand for risk reduction. At the same time, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions also supports Chinese companies to go global through its global policy program and letter of guarantee business. Among the top 10 contractors in China, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions has been involved in the international guarantee services of seven of them.
Jonathan Rake said the company continues to develop its product and service capabilities to support the market, and closely follows China's national development strategy to keep up with the development of renewable energy, high-tech, automotive manufacturing, infrastructure and large-scale energy industries.
He also acknowledged that Swiss Re Corporate Advisors, like most foreign companies, faces the challenges of local channels and networks, but that Swiss Re's strategy in the Chinese market is not to pursue large-scale growth, but to focus on areas where it has strengths and to meet complex insurance needs, such as large-scale offshore wind insurance projects, and to support local Chinese companies to go global.
We have a five-year plan for the company this time, and we don't have many expansion goals this year, but focus on long-term sustainability, looking for some new opportunities in the process. Jonathan Rake said.
At a time when global risks are becoming more diverse and frequent, Jonathan Rake believes that with the rapid development of technology, the frequent occurrence of extreme weather, and the more global and complex risks, business managers need to pay more attention to the risks faced by the enterprise and the trend of risk evolution. In the ever-changing risk landscape, commercial insurers also need to keep up and explore new risk prevention options to help build social resilience.