The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) is moving to strengthen the monitoring and control of risky investments made by insurance companies amid controversy over some firms that used premiums from short-term, high-yield policies to fund acquisitions of listed companies. Officials are considering new rules that would require insurance companies to seek regulatory approval before acquiring a public company and that would limit the source of funds in major equity investment to the firm’s own capital, according to a document Caixin has seen. The draft rules were sent recently to some insurance companies for their feedback, soon after a top official from the CIRC made a speech that chastised the aggressive sales and investments of some private insurance companies for pushing the regulator’s limits too far.
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