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South Korea’s Samsung Life Insurance plans to further diversify its distribution channels in China by launching online sales as it seeks to expand its customer base in the country’s growing insurance market.

Samsung Bank China Life plans to launch a service to sell its insurance products online this year, industry sources said on Monday.

Samsung Life Insurance entered the Chinese market in 2005 by establishing a joint venture with Air China, a subsidiary of China National Aviation Holding. The joint venture was renamed to Samsung Bank China Life in 2015 after Bank of China, one of the country’s five biggest lenders, became its largest shareholder. Bank of China, Samsung Life Insurance and China National Aviation Holding currently own 51%, 25% and 24% stakes respectively in the venture.

The planned launch of online sales in addition to bancassurance is aimed at expanding the insurer’s customer base in the Chinese market as more consumer behavior shifts to digital channels.

The Chinese insurance market has grown at an annual average of more than 13% for the past five years, and is expected to grow at 9-10% annually in the coming years as long-term trends such as aging population and income growth drive the market growth in the country.

The country’s online insurance market is also growing rapidly, from 32 billion yuan at the end of 2013 to 270 billion yuan ($41.4 billion) at the end of 2019, according to data from KB Financial Group Research Institute. Online insurance products represent only about 7% of the country’s total insurance sales, but its share has continued to increase. Particularly, younger consumers aged between 26 and 35 accounted for 45.3% of the online insurance policyholders, followed by those aged between 36 and 45 (34.6%).

Samsung Bank China Life fared well in 2020 despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, with income from premiums increasing 40% year-on-year to 2.25 trillion won ($1.95 billion). Its pretax profit has grown for four straight years to 11.5 trillion won in 2020 since the company turned profitable in 2017.

“We plan to launch an online sales channel this year but no details have been finalized yet,” a Samsung Life Insurance representative said.

Samsung Life Insurance is also stepping up efforts to expand into other overseas markets. It has offices in the US, Japan, Vietnam and Thailand. Especially, its Thai business has been in the black for four consecutive years, with growth expected to accelerate as the insurer continues to invest in partnerships and make smaller acquisitions.

The insurer also entered into a strategic partnership with Savills in May in a deal to buy 25% of Savills Investment Management, the UK property agent’s subsidiary, for about 100 billion won. The deal is waiting for regulatory approvals.

Samsung Life Insurance’s focus on overseas market expansion is in line with its mid to long-term strategy. During its general meeting held in March, the insurer announced plans to reduce the domestic insurance’s contribution to profit to 38% and instead increase the shares of asset management and overseas insurance to 32% and 30%, respectively. (Reporting by Min-young Kim)