There is a great article today by Sky Canaves (great name, also) in the Wall Street Journal looking at the rise and rise of Ping An Insurance from a humble bicycle insurer in Shenzhen in 1988 to the leading light in China's effort to develop financial conglomerates to rival the world's biggest.

As the government breaks down silos between banking, insurance and asset management, Ping An is building three massive "pillars" from which it can survey and dominate all before it.

Canaves doesn't quite put it that way, sticking to straight reportage, but you can bet the management is concerned with being more than just a responsible stakeholder for the country's strained but rapidly improving social safety net.