미국, 유럽 등 국가와 지역의 선진 생명보험회사들은 자국 생명보험시장이 성장에 한계를 보이고, 전 세계적으로 금융시장의 개방화․글로벌화가 가속화됨에 따라 이미 오래전부터 중국 등 신흥보험시장을 중심으로 해외진출을 추진해 왔다. 최근 들어 한국 국내 생명보험 산업도 과거와 같은 고성장 시대에서 벗어나 성장성 및 수익성에서 모두 한계점을 보이는 성숙기에 접어들고 있어 새로운 활로 모색 및 성장 동력 개발 차원에서 해외시장 진출의 필요성이 증가되고 있다. 신흥 생명보험시장 중에서도 특히 중국은 그동안 높은 경제성장과 WTO가입에 따른 금융시장 개방의 가속화 등에 힘입어 생명보험 산업 부문에서 놀라운 성장세를 거듭해 왔을 뿐만 아니라, 생명보험시장 구조도 과거의 폐쇄적․독점적 구조에서 개방적․경쟁적 구조로 변모하고 있다. 또한, 중국 생명보험시장은 한 국가의 보험 산업 발전 정도를 나타내는 중요한 지표들인 보험밀도․심도 등이 선진국은 물론 기타 개발도상국에 비해서도 여전히 낮을 뿐만 아니라 중국 경제성장이 상당 기간 지속될 것으로 예상됨에 따라 성장 잠재력이 풍부한 것으로 알려져 있고, 한국과 문화적․정서적으로 유사하여 성공 가능성이 높은 시장 중의 하나라고 여겨진다. 본 논문은 중국 생명보험 산업의 현황과 구조 변화를 파악하고 한국 국내 생명보험사의 진출 유인 등을 소개하여 진출 전략을 분석하고, 특히 현재 중국 현지에서 영업활동을 전개하고 있는 삼성생명보험회사를 대표로 한국 국내생명보험회사의 실무․경영진 및 현지 관리․감독자들과의 관계 등을 기초로 보다 세부적이고 현실적인 진출 전략을 제시하고 있다.
Since the diplomatic relationship between China and Korea was set up in 1992, it has been 17 years and a great number of Korean enterprises and brands have entered the market of China, not only the well-known Samsung, Hyundai, CJ, etc, but also some which offer service like logistics and home-shopping especially after China joined WTO in 2001. However, due to the policies of Chinese government, some entering barriers were not simply canceled in the upcoming 3-5 years including insurance field. That is why the agencies of Samsung Life Insurance and LIG No-life Insurance were built in Beijing in early 1995 and 1996, whereas the subsidiary company of Samsung Life Insurance could not be established until the late 2005. That is to say, comparing with the other Korean companies of different fields and foreign companies of the same field, Korean insurance companies entered the market of China in a relatively late way. Even though started in a disadvantageous position, Korean life insurance companies still developed much more quickly than people even expected. In view of the integrated market condition in China, this paper firstly introduced some ordinary strategies about how to get access to such a market with great potential. The insurance market of China does seem so attractive to all the foreign insurance companies of developed countries, especially to those in the close neighbour Korea, that whether to choose the direct investment or to pick the joint venture way must be carefully considered. Then this paper analyzed the characteristic specialties of life insurance market of China in the aspects of economics, competition, and laws. China shares a lot in common with Korea, yet considering about cultural difference, something dissimilar still exists between the two countries as the representatives of socialism and capitalism. Therefore, some questions like what is the insurance of China really like, whether there are some special elements should be calculated or not, and if so, if there is some access or shortcut to this market, should all be taken into account in advance. As the first successor of insurance field on entering insurance market of China, AIA showed us a business miracle even if it once failed in the same market, and that is why this paper quoted the success of AIA in the next part. Also the examples of Korean insurance companies were introduced as the following, which tells the short but prosperous history of development of the companies such as Samsung Fire-Marine Insurance and Hyundai Marine Insurance. As mentioned above, the insurance market of China is indeed attractive to all the Korean life insurance companies that all of those succeed in Korea are trying to enter this neighbouring market. However, in view of different positions of them, not all the insurance companies can enter the insurance market as Samsung Fire-Marine Insurance did; they need to find another way separately. Anyway, thanks to the intimate connection between China and Korea, this does not seem to be a mission impossible nowadays.