On the morning of May 31, Mr. Xiang Junbo, chairman of China Insurance Regulatory Commission and part-time professor of Fudan University, made a speech at Fudan about “Reform and Development of China’s Insurance Industry”. This speech was one of the series of activities marking the 110th anniversary of Fudan University and the 30th anniversary of the School of Economics. Over 400 people attended, including faculty members, students, alumni and insurance professionals. Prof. Zhang Jun, Dean of the School of Economics, presided over the speech and Prof. Chen Xiaoman, Vice President of Fudan University, made the welcome speech. Also present were Mr. Pei Guang, Director of Shanghai Bureau of China Insurance Regulatory Commission, Mr. Liang Xinjun, Vice Chairman and CEO of Fosun Group and President of Fudan University Alumni Association (Shanghai), and Mr. Wu Bin, Managing Director of Fudan University Alumni Association and Vice President of SMG.
Mr. Xiang was awarded a certificate appointing him expert at Fudan’s postdoctoral program of applied economics, in the hope that there will be more extensive cooperation and exchange between Fudan University and China Insurance Regulatory Commission.
Prof. Zhang Jun mentioned that a series of cooperation projects have been agreed upon between Fudan and the insurance industry after many rounds of discussions in this year, such as the strategic cooperation framework agreement that will be signed soon, the cultivation of talents for China’s insurance industry, the establishment of the Southern Center of Lectures on China’s Insurance, China Center for Risk Management, Institute for Financial Risk Management in China at Fudan University, database about China’s risk management cases, tests for evaluating knowledge in risk management and anti-money laundry.
In his speech Mr. Xiang introduced the birth and development of insurance. He pointed out that as a built-in mechanism of a market economy, the insurance industry serves as one key gauge of the maturity of the economy and the important driving force of economic growth. Then he elaborated the current status of the reforms in the industry. China, a new big player in insurance, ranks the 3rd in terms of the size of the insurance market, after the US and Japan. China is also one of the four key members of IAIS. Impressive progress has been made in the industry regarding market-based policies, payments system, regulatory system, and infrastructure. Of course the industry is still at the initial stage of growth with quite a few problems, mainly reflected in the inadequacy of the insurance markets, services, and the industry’s ability to prevent risk. In the Q&A session, to the question about the riskiness of repeated liberalization of the investment of insurance funds, Mr. Xiang said statistically since more investment options became available the return on insurance funds has increased year by year and insurance companies evaluate potential investments comprehensively based on the criteria of long-term sustainable development, efficiency and safety. Moreover insurance companies are doing well regarding the regulatory commission’s rule that equity assets should not exceed 30% of an insurance company’s invested funds. The audience also asked questions concerning the mobility of marketing personnel in insurance and college education in insurance.
