Zurich Greater China establishes
the Zurich Academy to develop insurance expertise

Zurich Greater China ("Zurich") announces that it has established a "Zurich Academy". As a part of the global Zurich talent management initiative, it focuses on training and development for Zurich's employees and consultants from its operations in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In establishing this new training platform, Zurich aims to provide a better service to its customers, as well as further enhancing the service standards of the industry, thereby enabling sustainable development. This step goes in line with Zurich's development in Greater China as well as the Mainland China government's intention to develop a modern insurance market.

The first program of the Academy is developed in collaboration with Beijing's Tsinghua University for employees and life insurance consultants from Hong Kong. The program gives the consultants a good market overview and equips them with knowledge of the business environment and governance structure in the Mainland China insurance industry.

Having obtained a business license in May this year, Zurich Financial Services Group established a General Insurance branch in Beijing focused on serving Chinese and foreign corporate customers. The company is determined to demonstrate best practice in the industry and Zurich Academy is a way to ensure this.

Mr Johnny Chen, CEO of the Zurich's Greater China business said, "With the blooming insurance market in Mainland China, corporate governance is becoming a key focus, and both operations and management structures are being strengthened. In light of this, we are moving to a stage where our operations will be managed and organized on a 'Line of Business' basis, thus building synergy among our employees across Greater China. The Zurich Academy supports this effort by developing the future leaders of the industry in the region. The Academy shares common ground with the academies in other units of Zurich Financial Services Group, such as in Australia, Germany and Spain. We aim to collaborate with different recognized educational organizations and relevant associations to establish programs and scholarships and offer our employees, consultants, business partners and even students in Greater China a flying start for great career development."

Zurich Academy leverages an e-Learning Center's which had already been established in Zurich Taiwan in 2001. It provides an efficient training e-platform, with a team of mentors facilitating the learning process. In future, Zurich will also offer talented students the opportunity to benefit from its training, so as to create seedbeds of insurance expertise in the China market. Students majoring in insurance or related fields from selected universities will have a chance to receive industry knowledge and training.

Mr. Chen concluded, "Zurich regards talent as the company's most valuable asset. Looking ahead, we will maintain a strong focus on developing people and retaining talent. We expect the Zurich Academy to be a platform to build synergies across Greater China. We are herewith creating an opportunity not previously available, providing a hub for knowledge exchange, while living up to our commitment to nurture the next generation of insurance experts."