China Raises Quotations on Insurers' Investments in SecuritiesThe China Insurance Regulatory Commission recently gave the approval of eight insurance companies to raise their investment in securities investment funds.Ping An, Taikang Life, Hua'an Property and Axa-Minmetals Assurance have been given permits to invest up to 15 percent of their assets in securities investment funds, compared to the former 10 percent. The Shanghai branch of the American International Assurance is approved to raise its ratio from 5 percent also to 15 percent. Xinhua Life and Huatai Property will raise their investment from 10 to 12 percent. China Life increased its investment from 5 to 10 percent. Chinese insurers were given the green light to invest in securities investment funds in October 1999. The ceiling was at 5 percent of their assets in October 1999. Since then, regulators have raised the ceilings several times for separate insures. In March 2000, China Pacific become the first insurer to have its ceiling raised to 15 percent, which is still the highest among all Chinese insurers. According to the latest official statistics, China's domestic insurers invested 9.65 billion yuan in securities investment funds by the end of last June. |
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