Shanghai is set to open its long anticipated insurance exchange in June which aims to be China's first bourse and pricing center for re-insurance.
Re-insurance refers to an insurance company purchasing insurance from other insurance firms directly or through a broker.
Initiated in 2010, the exchange is part of the city's vision to expand the insurance market, participate in global insurance practices, and upgrade insurance infrastructure to meet its goal of becoming an international insurance center by 2020.
Pei Guang, head of the Shanghai branch of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, said the State Council has approved the exchange which may be officially launched in June.
The insurance regulator has vowed to open the re-insurance market to domestic and foreign capital, and allow insurance companies and mutual insurance companies to be set up in Shanghai's free trade zone to support the exchange.
The regulator will also allow insurance services companies including brokers, agencies, risk assessment and legal consulting firms.
The regulator's other tasks this year include insurance support for small and innovative companies, expand commercial insurance for elderly care and critical illness, and develop a disaster insurance mechanism.
Insurance companies in Shanghai collected 478.9 billion yuan in premiums last year, or a fifth of the national total, according to official data.
