China Raises Insurers' Share of Investment in SecuritiesThe China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) Thursday allowed three insurance companies to raise their investment in securities investment funds.Ping An, New China Life Insurance and Zhong Hong Life Insurance have been given permits to invest up to 100 percent of their premiums from investment-linked insurance policies in securities investment funds, CIRC sources said. The commission requires that the insurers open different accounts for each insurance portfolio, separate ordinary accounts from investment accounts and abide by regulations concerning investment accounts set by CIRC. Early this year, Ping An, Taikang Life, Hua'an Property and Axa- Minmetals Assurance were given the green light to invest up to 15 percent of their assets in securities investment funds, compared to the previous 10 percent. The Shanghai branch of the American International Assurance was also allowed to raise its ratio from 5 percent to 15 percent. New China Life and Huatai Property raised their investment from 10 to 12 percent, while China Life increased its investment from 5 to 10 percent. Chinese insurers were first given the approval to invest in securities investment funds in October 1999. At that time, the ceiling was at 5 percent of their assets. Since then, regulators have raised the ceilings several times for separate insurers. In March 2000, China Pacific became the first insurer to have its ceiling raised to 15 percent. Commission statistics show that China's domestic insurers invested 9.65 billion yuan in securities investment funds by the end of last June. |
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