Shenzhen had released a series of preferential policies to boost its insurance sector as part of its plan to become the country’s financial center, the city’s insurance regulator said Saturday.

Apart from attracting insurance companies to the city, it also aimed to become the industry’s innovation and training center in China, the Shenzhen Insurance Regulatory Bureau said in a press release.

Under the preferential policies, the Shenzhen Municipal Government will give multi-million-yuan rewards and other subsidies to insurance institutions that establish their headquarters in Shenzhen.

An institution establishing its headquarters in the city would receive a reward of 5 million yuan (US$600,000) while locating its regional headquarters would receive 2 million yuan, the bureau said.

If those enterprises expanded their offices in the city, they would also receive a subsidy of 1,000 yuan per square meter when buying new offices or a 30 percent discount in land price when building their own offices, it said.

Rewards would also be given to insurance companies whose profits exceeded certain figures, the bureau said.

The rewards will be paid in one lump sum and pegged to their profits for the first half of each year: 500,000 yuan for a profit of more than 3 million, 1 million for 5 million, 2 million for 10 million and 5 million for 30 million.

The government also pledged to simplify the registration procedures for insurance companies, saying no red tape would be allowed for its registration agencies.

To attract professionals, the government will provide a monthly subsidy of 1,000 yuan for a senior executive working at the company’s headquarters in the city and simplify immigration procedures for the family of any executive.

It will also speed up fostering homegrown professionals by encouraging insurance institutions to expand their training bases in the city and bringing in overseas training firms.

The bureau specifically mentioned the cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, which it described as “vital” for the industry’s innovation and regulation.

The city’s insurance sector currently lagged behind its banking and securities sectors, a major drawback for the whole financial industry, the bureau said, adding the situation had been improved in the past couple of years.

So far, the city is home to six insurance companies with 270 branches, eight representative offices of overseas firms, 56 professional insurance agencies and 2,179 concurrent-business agencies.

(Shenzhen Daily December 6, 2004)