Shangahai Daily news

Manulife-Sinochem Life Insurance Co opened its Zhejiang Province branch yesterday as the company seeks to establish a wider network on China's mainland.
The subsidiary of Canada-based Manulife Financial, the earliest foreign-funded joint venture life insurer in the country, set up its fourth branch on the Chinese mainland in the coastal city of Ningbo after earlier openings in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing.
"Establishing operations in Ningbo marks a milestone in our journey to becoming a nationwide insurer in China," said Marc Sterling, Manulife Financial's Asia operations executive vice president.
The shanghai-based Manulife-Sinochem received the first license granted in Zhejiang Province to a foreign-invested joint venture life insurer from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission in September 2004.
The insurer also said it had received a number of new licenses that will permit the rapid expansion of its business in China's mainland.
The insurer recently received CIRC licenses to convert its branch company in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, into a province-wide company, excluding Shenzhen. The move gives it immediate access to a market with a population of almost 80 million.
It has also received permission to enhance its current product portfolio to include group life, health and pension business, bringing its business scope in line with that of Chinese mainland counterparts.