SHANGHAI, China — American
International Group of the U.S. may have to sell part of its
insurance operations in China to conform with the country’s World Trade
Organization commitments, a senior Chinese insurance regulator said. That
possibility raises the stakes in one of the last remaining battles
complicating China’s entry to the global trade body.
AIG is the only foreign-insurance company in China allowed 100%
ownership of its life-insurance operations, a holdover from its status as
one of the earliest and most influential foreign investors in China. Those
privileges have sparked fierce protest among other foreign companies here,
and helped AIG build a deep foothold in one of the world’s fastest growing
insurance markets. In Shanghai, AIG already controls 10% of the life-
insurance market.