Suggestions for Bancassurance Markets in China: Implications from European Countries.

This study discusses the operational benefits of integration of the banking and insurance sub-sectors in Europe to formulate policy recommendations for the bancassurance markets in an emerging country, China. When the financial integration of banking and insurance services began in European countries in the 1990s, most banks and insurance companies had already been listed for some time. Thus, we use the monthly stock returns of banks and insurance companies that had not yet been integrated as of 2008 to examine efficient frontier portfolio and pairwise combinations in European bancassurance markets. We find that portfolio diversification is an important benefit of banks integrating with different types of insurance companies. Consistent with the literature, we further show that banks strategically involved in non-life insurance will benefit in terms of enhanced returns and reduced risks. Our results present implications for building a bancassurance market in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]