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Learn Mandarin online - Have you met the new MetLife today?

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

Have you met the new MetLife today?

By Song Hongmei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-05-24 17:20

MetLife Inc, America's biggest life insurer, held a celebration for the
launch of its newly named joint-venture (JV) life insurance company in
Shanghai on May 19.

The ceremony is part of an on-going effort by MetLife to brand itself for
the Chinese market. Although legally allowed to use CitiInsurance's
trademark of a red umbrella until June 30, United Metlife has already
made the switch to their own Snoopy mascot in an effort to make the
transition of the JV from CitiInsurance Life Insurance to MetLife more
palatable to the public.

MetLife Inc chairman Robert Henrikson poses with the US insurance giant's
mascot Snoopy during a celebration for the launch of its newly named
joint-venture life insurance company in Shanghai on May 19, 2006.
[chinadaily.com.cn]

MetLife holds 50 percent of the JV, United MetLife Insurance Co, and its
Chinese partner, Shanghai Alliance Investment Ltd, an investment arm of
the municipal government, own the rest.

The JV, formerly CitiInsurance Life Insurance Co Ltd, dates back to
August 2005 and was formed with US$62.3 million in registered capital.

In January 2005, MetLife Inc acquired Travelers Life & Annuity from
Citigroup, which included CitiInsurance international assets, for US$11.5
billion.

What's in a name?

Since brand names are especially important in the insurance industry, the
name Citigroup actually means much more to Shanghainese than MetLife,
though the latter is the largest life insurance provider in the United
States, an insurance analyst said.

Citigroup boasts more than a hundred years of history in Shanghai,
setting up its Shanghai branch one year after its establishment in New
York in 1901. MetLife opened its representative office in Shanghai just
ten years ago.

MetLife delayed renaming the JV until 10 months after the initial
acquisition partly because of this, according to the analyst.

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(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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