As the Tianjin Free Trade Zone (FTZ) launches, global and domestic financial institutions are accelerating their pace to join the FTZ.

In the morning of April 8, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission allowed MetLife, the 150-year old global insurance leader from the US to launch its Tianjin branch.

Meanwhile, the Tianjin Banking Regulatory Commission issued financial permits to the CITIC Financial Leasing Corporation with four billion yuan ($644.6 million) registered capital.

Registered in the central business area of the Tianjin FTZ, the CITIC Financial Leasing Corporation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the CITIC Bank.

Li Qingping, president of the CITIC Bank said, "We choose Tianjin FTZ because of the preferential policies. We believe it will offer a positive atmosphere for the development and operation of the CITIC Financial Leasing Corporation."

The CITIC Financial Leasing Corporation is dedicated to financing and leasing businesses like environmental protection, health care, agriculture, facility manufactures, and general aviation.

Tan Qiang, MetLife CEO said, "We choose Tianjin because it plays an important role in the integrated development of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei province and because of the financial opportunities of the Tianjin FTZ, for example the broad development space for financial institutions."

MetLife actively manages the offshore insurance and finance and explores health and endowment insurance in foreign currency.