Investment Updates News
- 20 insurers allowed to invest in HK
Date: 5-Dec-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
TWENTY mainland insurance firms have won approval to invest directly in Hong Kong assets as part of a program to encourage capital outflows from the mainland, the industry regulator said Friday.
It was the first time the China Insurance Regulatory Commission gave a full list of those given the nod to participate in the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) program.
The government launched the program last year to give financial institutions more investment opportunities and promote better balance in its international payments, although Hong Kong is the only market that has been opened so far to QDII money.
The approved list featured top insurers on the mainland, including Ping An Insurance, PICC Property & Casualty, and China Reinsurance, as well as American International Assurance Co., a subsidiary of American International Group Inc.
Yuan Li, assistant chairman of the insurance regulator, told a news briefing that three more firms were applying for QDII permission but he did not give their names.
Speaking a day after Ping An bought into Dutch-Belgian financial services firm Fortis in the largest foreign purchase by a domestic insurer, Yuan said overseas acquisitions made strategic sense.
'For the long term we support the expansion abroad of Chinese insurers,'he said. 'But each company needs to consider their own stage of development and strength.'
Ping An, the country's No. 2 life insurer, bought a 4.2 percent stake in Fortis for US$2.7 billion.
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