Insurance companies that will receive claims related to the deadly twin blasts that rocked the northern port city of Tianjin should immediately process the claim and provide support, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) announced.
In a statement posted on its website, the CIRC urged insurers to prioritize the processing of Tianjin-related insurance claims and be open 24 hours to provide support to the families of those who perished in the tragedy.
The insurance watchdog also ordered insurers to be ready with enough funding to immediately release insurance claims.
Experts estimated that the twin blasts that rocked Tianjin could result to insurance losses between US$1 billion and US$1.5 billion.
Global insurers with exposure in Tianjin have already started receiving insurance claims just a few days after the explosion that killed at least 100 people and destroyed thousands of vehicles.
Zurich Insurance and Allianz were among the global insurers that confirmed receiving insurance claims related to the blast but the two firms did not provide estimate on the actual insurance losses arising from the tragedy.
In another development, the Insurance Association of China revealed that online sales of insurance premiums topped US$12 billion the first six months of the year, or about the total online sales posted for the entire 2014.
Xinhua News Agency quoted Liu Qi, general secretary of the association, as saying that online sales is emerging as a key engine to drive the growth of China’s insurance sector. – BusinessNewsAsia.com