After three or more years of regulatory uncertainty in the world's second largest insurance market, calendar year 2018 saw the newly merged China regulator – the China Banking & Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) – issue a slew of new regulations, with a number of aims.
First, to encourage foreign-insurer controlling equity interests in CBIRC-regulated carriers, brokers and managing agents.
Second, to actively and explicitly prevent a single domestic shareholder from ever acquiring controlling equity interests in CBIRC-regulated carriers (with grandfathering exceptions remaining – tentatively – for existing circumstances).
Third, to clean up market misconduct by CBIRC-regulated entities and set significantly higher 'fit & proper' criteria for existing and prospective shareholders of CBIRC-regulated entities.
And finally, to set a new Rule 101 for CBIRC-regulated carriers: Solvency, Solvency, Solvency (with greatly increased fines and punishment for deliberate or careless misrepresentation of a carrier's solvency position, by the carrier and/or its auditors/actuaries).
As a result, foreign insurer interest levels in China's insurance market are at their highest levels in many years, and we expect a number of significant and creative foreign insurer-invested transactions to emerge through 2019.
You can read the rest of our insurance predictions here.
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