Manulife-Sinochem (MSL) has been granted two new licenses from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) to operate in two more Chinese cities, Manulife Financial Corp. announced Thursday.

Manulife-Sinochem is a joint venture between Manulife (International) Limited (TSX:MFC) and China Foreign Economy and Trade Trust Company.

The new licenses are in Linyi, a city of 10 million people in Shandong province and Yancheng, with 8 million people in Jiangsu province.

The additions bring MSL’s total to 41 — creating one of the largest insurance foreign-invested joint venture networks in China.

Linyi, the largest city in Shandong, maintained high economic development throughout the financial crisis, increasing its gross domestic product (GDP) by 18% in 2008 over 2007. Insurance premium income in the city was RMB 3317 million (US$487.8 million) in 2008, 46.8% higher than the previous year.

Yancheng, in central Jiangsu, is the province’s second largest city. The province’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2008 was RMB 162.3 billion (US$23.8 billion), an increase of 13% from the previous year while premium income in 2008 reaching RMB 3.71 billion (US$543 million), an increase of nearly 40% over the previous year.

“With 14 years experience in the areas of agency training, product design, market exploration and customer service in China, Manulife-Sinochem looks forward to rapid development in the insurance market of these two important locations,” stated James Lin, president of Manulife-Sinochem.

As the first joint venture insurance company in China, Manulife-Sinochem has over 11,000 professionally trained agents and employees, and provides financial and insurance services to over 500,000 customers. With this latest approval, Manulife-Sinochem is licensed in cities that are home to more than 300 million individuals.

IE