Beijing will slash regulation currently restricting insurance companies’ investment in equities in a further bid to channel funds into China’s ailing stock markets, Caixin reports.
The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission has published a first draft of new guidelines that would lift limits on how much and in what insurers can invest.
Insurance firms can currently only buy shares of fellow insurance companies, non-insurance financial companies and companies linked to the insurance sector such as health-care and auto services. Investments are capped at 30% of a company’s assets.
The regulator said that the move will help increase the efficiency of capital movements in the real economy. According to official data, at the end of 2017 the insurance sector was worth up to Rmb 16.8 trillion ($2.7 trillion).