AIG CHINA SUBSIDIARY UPGRADES SHANGHAI BRANCH

American International Underwriters, a subsidiary of New York-based insurer AIG, is to upgrade its Shanghai branch into a fully fledged subsidiary, which will then merge AIU’s two other branches in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Foreign-owned insurers have been allowed to upgrade branches to full subsidiaries since May 2004. In the first three months of this year the three branches had combined premiums of 242.1m yuan. Meanwhile, American International Assurance (AIA), another subsidiary of AIG, is also reported to be considering integrating its Chinese operations from five branches and three sub-branches into a single subsidiary. The establishment of a capital management centre in Shanghai, which controls 17bn yuan in capital from the eight outlets, was approved in February.