China opening its doors to foreign investors has attracted overseas insurance companies, but as they come in, domestic insurance firms are venturing out to try and expand their businesses overseas. Many of these are young, internet-based businesses. Their books are still in the red but they remain ambitious about investing abroad.

Going overseas was the main topic at a forum held by China's first online insurer Zhongan Online P&C Insurance. The company is only five years old, but for the past two years it has been doing deals in Japan and Singapore, investing abroad despite still having a negative cash flow at home.

"We do have much ambition, and getting profit is definitely one important thing," Song Xuanbi, ZhongAn Tech Global CEO said. "If you look at Zhongan's balance sheet, you'll find every year we invest huge in technology," he added.

China's digital economy has grown extremely fast in the last decade, "especially in this internet-related insurance," Song detailed. "It has great opportunities outside of China."

Online insurance is still a new idea in China, five years old at the most, and so far none of the companies are in profit. Premium earnings at Zhongan, as well as at other internet insurers like Taikang Online and Anxin Property & Casualty are rising by double digits, but the increased revenues have not yet turned into profits.

Cai Junyi, chief analyst at Shanghai Securities, pointed out that "Internet insurance firms are still young and since they are all online they are still in the early stage of expansion, burning cash to attract attention."

In addition to Zhongan, Taikang Online Insurance has also been investing overseas in private equity funds. These overseas investments may seem contradictory to the fact that the companies are losing money, but industry analysts say they will actually help the new firms balance their investment portfolios over time.

Cai noted that, "For insurance companies, investing in overseas assets, equities or private funds will balance their overall holdings. Since they are Internet companies, realizing their expansion plans cannot wait for profits. They will come into profit while they expand their business."

In any case, China's new breed of insurance companies are limited in the amount of investments they can make overseas. The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission stipulates that their foreign investments cannot exceed 15 percent of their total assets in any previous year. That is true for China's traditional insurance firms as well, many of which were in business for some decades before turning a profit.