Taiwan: China Life partners Tokio Marine for synergistic distribution

| 04 Apr 2022

China Life Insurance Co and Tokio Marine Newa Insurance Co have recently formed a partnership to cross-sell their insurance products.

Under the partnership, China Life’s 15,000 sales agents would receive training from Tokio Marine Newa for them to become licensed Tokio Marine sales agents. Once licensed, these sales agents can market Tokio Marine’s non-life products, including motor, fire and travel insurance to their clients. Particularly, China Life hopes to satisfy the needs of its clients for property insurance – something that Tokio Marine Newa is well-placed to provide. 

On the other hand, Tokio Marine, with its 300 sales agents, aims to elevate the visibility and increased distribution of its products through China Life’s sales agents. 

China Life is a unit of China Development Financial Holding Corporation, while Tokio Marine is a joint investment between Yulon Group and Japan-based Tokio Marine Group. 

On why China Development Financial did not consider setting up its own property insurance unit, China Life president Stephanie Hwang said cultivating talent and establishing a network would need much time and resources, but “our clients have a need for property insurance right now.” 

The partnership would result in a win-win scenario as Tokio Marine has the expertise in the field of property insurance and there is alignment of business ideologies of the two entities, she said, adding that both companies expect the partnership to boost their sales this year. 

Although Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission allows insurance companies with different parent companies to share consumers’ data for marketing if they have obtained consumers’ consent, most local insurers prefer to cooperate with affiliated firms. 

The partnership was announced in a joint news conference in Taipei, according to Taipei Times