Strategic Alliances, Collaboration and Joint Ventures Case Study

HSBC’s Insurance JV in China: Sailing Through Charted Waters

OR

Abstract:
Since 2001, after China opened its doors to the world economy, it began to invite foreign insurance companies to participate in China's emerging insurance industry. Joint venture was the most popular mode of entering into the untapped Chinese insurance market. HSBC, the largest banking and financial services organisations of the world had formed a 50-50 joint venture (JV) with Beijing based privately-held trust and investment firm, National Trust. It was expected that the JV would help HSBC to restore its profit growth and would help to expand its operation in China's insurance market. The new venture would sell insurance services mainly through HSBC's banking network and National Trust's business channels. Going forward, HSBC's growth prospect would largely depend on how well the JV would utilise the brand name and expert management skills of HSBC, and the network and market knowledge of National Trust to optimise their market share.This case is intended for MBA / PGDBM students and is designed to be part of the security analysis and strategic management curriculum.

Pedagogical Objectives:

This case study aims at achieving the following pedagogical objectives:
• To understand the opportunities of the foreign insurers in China.
• To understand the effect of the JV in the Chinese insurance market.
• To understand the synergies of the JV.

Keywords :  Chinese insurance market growth, Chinese foreign insurers, Discretionary participation features (DPF), Life insurers JV (joint venture) in China, China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), China National Trust, 50-50 JV in insurance sector in China, Embedded value (EV), Strategic fit, Synergies fit, Synergies of merger, HSBC?s life insurance products, Market penetration

Contents : 
Chinese Insurance Industry: Opportunities for Foreign Insurers
Brief History of Chinese Insurance Industry
Presence of Foreign Insurers in Top 10 Cities of China
HSBC Insurance: Brief Overview
Geographical Segmentation of HSBC
Can HSBC win over Chinese consumers?