(Yicai) Sept. 10 -- The Shanghai International Reinsurance Registration and Trading Center provides Chinese and foreign reinsurance institutions with a one-stop trading venue covering the entire process from inquiry and negotiation to issuance and settlement.

Located in Lingang Special Area, a key testing ground for economic and trade policies within the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, the center's trading hall has over one hundred open trading spots where reinsurers can find counterparties, while special nearby rooms offer a quiet and private area for negotiations. In addition, real-time cross-border transaction data are displayed on electronic screens in the hall.

Chinese insurers used to complete reinsurance trades through global reinsurance trading centers in London, Bermuda, Singapore, and other areas, but the Shanghai International Reinsurance Registration and Trading Center has provided them with a domestic trading platform.

The center has achieved automatic identification and rapid confirmation of transactions by unifying bill templates, building a digital trading platform, and formulating standardized trading rules, Assistant General Manager Chang Ming told Yicai. The confirmation time for a single transaction has been shortened to several hours from three days, significantly improving operation efficiency and laying a foundation for China's reinsurance sector to expand globally, Chang said.

In addition, regarding quotations, terms, and underwriting conditions, Chinese insurers can also "compare offerings from multiple providers".

"The platform built by the Shanghai center allows foreign direct insurance companies to conveniently connect with the reinsurance underwriting capacity of Chinese insurers, thereby reducing premiums for overseas projects of domestic companies and providing stable risk protection," Chang pointed out.

The center has 90 Chinese insurance institutions and 28 foreign ones on board, according to its data. Transaction premiums topped CNY4.4 billion (USD617.8 million) in the eight months ended Aug. 31, the registered outward reinsurance business premiums reached CNY94.6 billion (USD13.3 billion), and the inward reinsurance business premiums were CNY9.5 billion.

"In addition to communicating, negotiating, and discussing with potential counterparties in the trading hall, we also often gather with these partners in Lingang," Xue Fei, GM of AXA Global Reinsurance Shanghai, said to Yicai. The company's main counterparties include over 80 Chinese property and casualty insurers, including large enterprises such as PICC Property and Casualty, Xue pointed out.

Some 26 professional Chinese or foreign reinsurance institutions have settled Lingang, including 21 reinsurance operation centers, one reinsurance branch, and four brokerage branches, forming a complete ecosystem covering "inward reinsurance + outward reinsurance + brokerage."

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev