STANDARD Life plans to open a base in Guangdong, the most prosperous province in China, following a sharp increase in sales in the country.
It is expanding in the region through Heng An Standard Life (HASL), its joint venture with TEDA Investment Holding Company. Alan Armitage, chief executive of Standard Life's Asian activities, who operates out of Hong Kong, plans to tap into a market
of 110 million residents and migrant workers.
He said: "We expect final authority and a licence to operate any day now. Guangdong is key strategically, especially due to its southern proximity with the Hong Kong side of our business and offering such an important customer target base.
"A number of distributors we already use on the island (Hong Kong] are moving onto the mainland and so we plan a cross-fertilisation of effort to significantly build on our sales figures."
He reported that since it launched HASL Standard Life has seen sales rise from an initial £7 million in 2005 to £109m in 2008 from a 300,000 customer base.
A year ago HASL launched China's first group pension plan for small to medium-sized companies that attracts tax relief, and aimed at spreading into new markets including Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea.
"The first quarter of this year shows no indications of a let up in our activity and that is despite a global recession," added Armitage, who is in charge of 5,000 employees and sales staff.
A further indication of an acceleration in business is that this time last year the venture employed 3,000 people.
HASL life and pensions teams cover 25 cities in mainland China.
Armitage stressed that the Standard Life Asian business has escaped any perceived fallout from the demise of Royal Bank of Scotland in China. He said he was well aware that both the beleaguered bank and his employer were seen as "essentially Scottish". But he added: "That is where the similarity ends."
RBS said in March it may sell most of its banking operations in China, after reporting the largest annual loss in British history and selling its 4.26 per cent strategic stake in Bank of China for £1.54 billion.
Armitage said: "In Hong Kong and mainland China, RBS is viewed as a global bank, much the same as a Merrill Lynch or an AIG. What we at Standard Life do is quite distinct from that side of the financial services sector and this is generally recognised throughout Asia."
He also believes that a further reported easing of China's regulatory restrictions on foreign investors is good news for HASL, with the prospect of further sales and partnership opportunities.
Last week Britain and China agreed at a high-level economic summit in London to allow UK companies to list on the three stock exchanges of Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
Current regulations prevent overseas firms from listing in China and this latest move is viewed as a further sign of the country opening out from its strict protectionist stance.
