Clyde & Co announced in February that Michael Cripps has joined its global corporate insurance practice. Cripps joined from Insurance Australia Group – Australia’s largest publicly listed property and casualty insurer – in Sydney where he was group general counsel. Prior to that, he was based in Shanghai for 13 years as a partner at Allens Arthur Robinson.
Cripps is fully bilingual and is an accredited English-Mandarin interpreter. He will be based in Shanghai and will focus on developing the corporate insurance practice in China.
“China’s total insurance premiums grew at a rate of 33% in 2010 according to the Chinese regulator, with assets now totalling approximately US$751 billion,” said Andrew Holderness, global head of Clyde & Co’s corporate insurance group. “Insurance companies … present a number of complex legal challenges around capitalization, structure, regulation and distribution – and this is particularly true in China.”
Cripps added: “The Chinese insurance market is incredibly exciting.”
