Insurance premium of China's commercial banks grew 121 percent to about 26.2 billion yuan (3.2 billion U.S. dollars) in January and February, 34 percent of the nation's total insurance premium of the months.

Insurance business deputized by commercial banks has exceeded the group direct-selling business in an all-out way, and has become one of the three pillars of China's life insurance business, Economic Daily reported Monday.

It was announced at the a symposium on bank insurance that insurance premium of China's commercial banks reached 90.5 billion yuan in 2005, accounting for one fourth of the total premium, said the newspaper.

According to figures released by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, one of China's four state-owned commercial banks, insurance business deputized by the bank grew 88.4 percent to 17.17 billion yuan in the first two months of 2006. Insurance business has become the bank's profit-growing point.

"Despite its soaring business, bank insurance still faces problems in their product structure and handling charge," Chen Wenhui, assistant to the chairman of China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), said at the symposium.

Undiversified products is the major problem, Chen said, noting that most commercial banks and insurance companies offer largely identical products, and most products are merely substitutions of saving products with short insuring period and low protecting degree.

The gradually climbing handling charge as a result of increasingly fierce competition is another major problem. Moreover, bank insurance business only provide limited profit to insurance companies, Chen said.

According to Chen, the CBRC will take measures to promote the banks to adjust their insurance products, and boost in-depth cooperation, including mutually share-holding, between banks and insurance companies.

Source: Xinhua