Foreign insurers struggle to take advantage of opportunities offered by China. - Foreign insurers have not succeeded in breaking through in China, despite the opportunities offered by this massive market, a study carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) reveals. Indeed, they have lost ground in the life insurance sector compared with their Chinese competitors and seen their share of the market fall from 8.9% in 2005 to 4.7% at the end of June. Foreign insurers are now aiming for only an 8% market share by 2012, when, in the previous study, they had hoped to be above 10% by 2010. In the area of non-life insurance, the hope is for a modest rise from a 1% to a 2% share of the market. The 29 insurers surveyed say that the major Chinese insurers (China Life, Ping An, China Pacific Insurance Company and the People's Insurance Company of China) are coping particularly well with the economic slowdown in China. PwC say that foreign insurers have under-estimated the competitiveness of local players, which were considered outsiders when China opened its insurance market. The situation will only become more complicated in the future with, firstly, the authorisation by Beijing to the country's four largest banks (Bank of China, China Construction Bank, ICBC and the Agricultural Bank of China) to engage in insurance activities and, secondly, the toughening of the regulatory environment with regard to their activities. (I.L.)