Pollution cover on offer in China

Asia

Huatai Insurance Company of China, which operates in a strategic partnership with the Ace Group of Bermuda, has received approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) to offer broad pollution coverage in China. The company will offer coverage for both first-party clean-up and third-party claims for pollution conditions associated with operations or investments in China, with limits up to $25.0mn, according to Huatai chief executive, Zhao Ming Hao. Mr Zhao said that Huatai was the first insurer to offer this cover in China. Karl J. Russek, senior vice president of ACE Environmental Risk, (which provided much of the product development expertise) described the increase in environmental awareness in China over the past few years as enormous. Multinationals, in particular, increasingly face scrutiny of their environmental performance in China, both from within China and from constituencies in their home countries.