China's PICC enters S'pore

China's PICC enters S'pore

BEIJING (AFP): The People's Insurance Company of China (PICC) plans to open a Southeast Asian regional office in Singapore to study the feasibility of setting up companies in Malaysia and Thailand, the official China Daily said Saturday.

PICC group vice-president Wu Xiaoping said he believed Southeast Asia has a "bright future" after it emerges from the financial turmoil which has slowed growth in the region.

Wu said overseas Chinese in the region provided a rich resource to tap.

The PICC group currently has two branches in Singapore and a joint venture established in 1996 in Indonesia which registered premium income of US$6 million in the first half of this year, the newspaper said.

At a meeting of the heads of the firm's overseas branches Friday, PICC group president Ma Yongwei said the group had set up a company in New Zealand and would consider entering the South Pacific market.