The insurer is seeking to broaden its presence in Indonesia and China.
The largest Swiss insurer, Zurich Insurance Group, has revealed in its latest insurance news, that it is working to obtain additional licenses in order to be able to broaden its business in Chinese cities, as an element of its strategy to boost its presence in emerging markets.
This announcement came from 
Martin Senn, Zurich’s chief executive officer.
Senn also stated that while the insurer does see opportunities for growth in the channel of mergers and acquisitions, the company will not be making insurance news by taking part in any Asian coverage assets bidding wars. He made these announcements from Hong Kong, where he was giving interviews at the time.
Zurich is seeking to make its own insurance news by becoming a leading insurer in Indonesia and Malaysia.
When asked about mergers and acquisitions, specifically, Senn explained that when there is “an opportunity on the M&A front, we have to look at it,” adding that “We have to be very disciplined.”
Recently, Zurich has been making insurance headlines with its intentions to focus on various emerging markets which include the Asia-Pacific region, also those in the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa. It is focusing on this goal in the hopes that it will generate a business operating profit after-tax return over the long term on equity of 16 percent. Last year, the insurer purchased a controlling share (51 percent) of Banco Santander SA’s Latin American coverage business, as well as Malaysian Assurance Alliance Bhd.
The chief financial officer at Zurich, Pierre Wauthier, gave an interview earlier this summer in which he stated that “We are seeing a decline in premium income in Europe and it is fair to say that growth prospects in Europe are limited.” He went on to explain that a number of Asia Pacific countries are demonstrating a greater need than those in Latin America because the insurer already has a relatively strong position following the insurance news of the Santander acquisition.
Emerging are currently making some of the largest insurance news, as those countries are currently estimated to have contributed over 40 percent of this year’s new business value by the end of 2012.
