On January 12, 2005, AVIVA-COFCO Life Insurance Co., Ltd. signed agreements for group insurance policies with three Chinese enterprises in Beijing. The agreement represents the first policy issued by a foreign-funded insurance company after China started to open up its market for group insurance policies on December 11, 2004 to fulfill its commitment for China’s entry to the WTO.
Representatives of the first clients of AVIVA-COFCO, i.e. COFCO from Beijing, Baijia Food Company from Chengdu and Guowang Science and Technology Company from Guangzhou, attended the signing ceremony. These three companies also represent three different forms of ownership. The first is owned by the central government, the second by a local government authority and the third is privately owned.
AVIVA-COFCO is a joint venture life insurance company set up by COFCO and the British AVIVA Life Insurance Group January 1, 2003. The joint venture received approval from the China Insurance Oversight Commission on December 23, 2004 to become the first foreign-funded insurance company in the country to issue group life insurance policies. On December 30, 2004 the company became the first foreign-funded life national insurance company to obtain an industry and commerce business license to deal in group insurance.
