SHANGHAI will tap a newly established insurance exchange and insurance investment fund to spur the development of the city into an international insurance center in the next five years, authorities said yesterday.

The city will use the 300 billion yuan (US$46 billion) insurance investment fund as well as the insurance exchange, set to start operations this month, as catalysts to develop an international insurance center, the Shanghai Insurance Regulatory Bureau said yesterday.

"Shanghai will accelerate modernization and internationalization of the local insurance sector," Pei Guang, director of Shanghai insurance regulator, said at the 2016 Shanghai Insurance Forum yesterday. "Shanghai's insurance business has developed at its best pace in the past five years, and we will continue to fight for the success of becoming an international insurance center in the next five years."