(Bloomberg) ? Bermuda-based Willis Group Holdings Ltd., the world?s third-largest insurance brokerage, plans to take full ownership of its Chinese venture to expand in the nation once regulations permit, the head of the company?s Asian unit said.

The New York-listed company, which agreed in April to buy half of Shanghai Pudong Insurance Brokers Co., will increase its stake after China ends curbs on foreign investment in the insurance industry at the end of 2006, Adam Garrard, Willis Asia managing director, said in an interview in Shanghai.

China?s non-life insurance premiums are growing annually at more than 20 percent as the economy expands and the state sells assets to private industry, increasing demand for risk- management products. Most companies in China buy policies directly from insurers, rather than through brokers.

?The insurance brokerage business in China is tough as the market is immature,? Huang Huamin, an analyst at Shenyin Wanguo Insurance Co., said in Shanghai. ?Local brokers merely compare prices for clients, and there?s a lack of trust in them.?

China has about 150 insurance brokerages after the government issued the first licenses in 2000.

Willis, based in Bermuda and run from London, sells insurance, reinsurance, risk-management consulting and other services to companies in industries such as construction, shipping and energy.

The company bought the maximum permitted stake in Pudong Insurance Brokers and has an agreement with the company?s management, which owns the other half, to increase its holding when rules allow, Willis?s China Chief Executive Ma Botao said.

Willis forecasts the three-year-old company, which has 18 branches nationwide, will break even this year and make a profit in 2005, according to Ma. The U.K. company didn?t disclose how much it paid for its stake in the Chinese venture.

?China remains the last frontier of insurance brokering,? Willis?s Garrard said. ?It?s a green field, and everyone has a chance. If you want to be No. 1, you?ve got to be here.?

Willis?s bigger rival Chicago-based Aon Corp. started offering services in China last year through an equally owned venture with state-owned China National Cereals, Oils & Foodstuffs Import & Export Corp. New York-based Marsh & McLennan Cos., the world?s biggest insurance brokerage, offers consulting services to foreign companies in China. It doesn?t have a brokerage venture in the country.