Manulife-Sinochem Life Insurance Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Canada-based Manulife Financial and has launched its group insurance business.

Manulife-Sinochem has been actively preparing for its group insurance business since the recent lift of product restrictions for foreign insurers by the Chinese government, as part of China’s commitment to the World Trade Organization.

“We are very pleased to be in a position to now offer our portfolio of innovative financial and protection products to companies,” said Marc Sterling, executive vp, regional operations, Asia, Manulife Financial. “Our long-term goal is to become the employee benefit provider of choice in the mainland for joint-ventures and small-to-medium sized companies.”

Manulife-Sinochem is launching its group insurance to employers in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing and Ningbo and will roll out at a later time into the other cities in which it has operations: Foshan, Dongguan and soon in Hangzhou and Nanjing.

Three product packages — classic, premier and elite — will serve a wide range of needs.

The classic package is designed to satisfy the basic protection needs of small-to-medium sized companies and comprises accidental death and dismemberment and accidental hospitalization products.

The premier package consists accidental, life and hospitalization insurance products, while the elite Package provides a much wider range of protections, including accidental and life protection, hospitalization income and critical illness.

Manulife-Sinochem has also designed a full-range of group insurance benefits as part of a tailor-made plan, which will be offered to clients in the near-term.

Manulife-Sinochem is a joint venture company between Manulife (International) Ltd. (51%) and China Foreign Economic and Trade Trust & Investment Co., a member of the Sinochem group (49%). It is the Official Life Insurance Partner of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games,