Construction bank in, ING out
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China Construction Bank, the fourth largest bank in China, has become the majority shareholder in Pacific-Antai Life Insurance Co following its acquisition of an additional 1 percent share, raising its total shares to 51 percent Tuesday.
The final 1 percent stake was bought from China Pacific Insurance Group Co, a 50-50 partner in a 1998 joint venture with Dutch ING Group.
China Pacific Insurance transferred its total 50 percent stake in Pacific-Antai to domestic investors including China Construction Bank, China Life Insurance (Taiwan), and other three investment companies, for 950 million yuan ($143 million), according to China Pacific Insurance's filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange Tuesday.
The bank signed a shareholder transfer agreement with ING Group in late December 2009 to take over the 50 percent stake that it held in Pacific- Antai. At that time, ING was a shareholder in two different joint-venture life insurance companies including Pacific- Antai.
Since current regulations forbid dual ownership by a foreign firm in two separate Chinese financial companies, ING decided to sell out its stake in Pacific-Antai to China Construction Bank.
The shareholder transfer is still subject to regulatory approval.
China Construction Bank has therefore become the fourth domestic commercial bank - following the Bank of Communications, Bank of Beijing and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China - to hold an insurance company stake.
"The investment in Pacific- Antai is an important step toward Construction Bank's strategy for providing comprehensive services," China News reported Tuesday citing Zhang Jianguo, the president of China Construction Bank.
"With the completion of the transfer, Construction Bank will provide full-scale insurance products to customers,"
The ownership transfer from the foreign insurer, apart from meeting regulatory re-quirements, might indicate a bottleneck for development, Xu Wenhu, an insurance industry professor with Shanghai-based Fudan University, told the Global Times.
Foreign insurance companies' total market share remains almost flat at about 5 percent over the last two years and no improvements are projected for the next three years, according to a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report.
"Foreign insurance companies continue to find China a tough market to operate in," due to its highly regulated environment and the rising influence of domestic players, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Many foreign insurance companies established their businesses in China seven to eight years ago, but have yet to turn a profit, according to Beijing-based Polymath Consulting.
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