China Life Insurance said that it has been told by the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) that the federal agency had launched an informal inquiry into the insurer. China Life, which did not disclose the nature of the inquiry, had previously denied a Financial Times report of an informal probe by the SEC into the insurer's US$3.4 billion dual listing in New York and Hong Kong. China Life said in a legal notice that it had received an informal inquiry from the SEC requesting that it �produce documents and other relevant information on certain matters�. The insurer is facing litigation in New York state for allegedly not disclosing details to investors regarding accounting irregularities discovered prior to its restructuring, which took place before its IPO.