In an October survey, 58.7 percent of respondents said they will increase spending on insurance in the future. Total premiums in the city are expected to more than double to 76.44 billion yuan (US$9.68 billion) by 2010, with an annual growth of 18 percent.

Insurers are just part of the big picture of overseas financial players spearheading business in Shanghai.

Foreign banks are also busy setting up local incorporation in the city, home to the China mainland's largest number of overseas players.

The list include big names like Citigroup Inc, HSBC Holdings Plc, Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of East Asia, Hang Seng Bank , Mizuho Corporate Bank, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, DBS Bank and ABN Amro Bank NV.

Hang Seng Bank's mainland subsidiary bank, with its headquarters in Shanghai, is expected to be open for business in the first half of this year, said Johnson Fu, the bank's head of China business.

And players such as France's third-biggest bank, Societe Generale SA, are expected to join the list.

China mainland opened its market to both homegrown and overseas banks on December 11 last year, under its World Trade Organization commitments.

New deposits in November and December topped 298 million yuan, while new loans gained 10 billion yuan in the last two months of 2006, accounting for 58 percent of new loans in Shanghai in the period.

Loans from overseas banks accounted for 14.2 percent of total lending in the city, up 2.3 percentage points from a year ago.

Overseas banks had 94 branches in the city at the end of October, up by 42 since 2001. Total assets of overseas banks topped US$60 billion in the same period, with a yearly average growth of 31.3 percent in the past five years. Their pre-tax profits topped US$281 million, with a yearly growth of 42.4 percent.

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