The China Insurance Regulatory Commission has approved Ping An Insurance's application to invest on the Hong Kong stock market, making the company the first insurer to earn a quota under the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) program, Economic Observer reported (in Chinese). Ping An, China's second-largest insurance company, will be allowed to invest up to 5% of its total 2006 assets on the Hong Kong market, putting its limit at about US$3.3 billion. The CIRC has yet to release detailed regulations on how Chinese insurers may invest under the QDII scheme, the newspaper reported, citing an unnamed source.