The premiums of foreign-funded insurance firms in China amounted to 34.12 billion yuan (about 4.26 billion US dollars)last year, or 6.9 percent of China's total, a senior official of the country's insurance watchdog said Friday in Beijing.

Wu Dingfu, president of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), told a national insurance work conference that foreign-funded insurance companies kept fast growth momentum last year and their market share has been expanding.

The number of foreign-funded insurance companies has grew from 14 in 2000 to 40 last year, according to CIRC figures.

China has gradually opened its insurance market in accordance with commitments made when joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, Wu said.

In 2005 alone, when China fully opened its insurance market to foreign competition, three foreign insurance companies entered the Chinese market and 25 agencies funded by foreign investors opened businesses in the country, he said.

So far, 27 of the world's 46 insurance firms,listed among the global top 500 by Fortune magazine, have established business agencies in China.

Source: Xinhua