CBIRC allows qualified foreign-funded insurance brokers to operate related biz in China

Photo taken on Sept. 9, 2020 shows the main venue and exhibition areas of the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing, capital of China.

BEIJING, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) issued on December 17 a circular on measures of the country's insurance intermediary market opening up and healthy development of insurance industry, reported Xinhua Finance.

As the circular provides, insurance brokers which are established by foreign insurance brokers in China, have practical business experience and meet related requirements of CBIRC, are permitted to operate insurance brokerage business in China.

Meanwhile, requirements on setting up foreign-funded insurance brokerage firms in the previous circular on insurance industry related contents in legal documents of China's accession into the WTO will not be executed. The circular required that foreign investors shall have more than 30 years of business operation history in WTO member nations, have founded representative offices in China for two consecutive years and boast no less than 200 million U.S. dollars of total assets in the year prior to its application as well, for establishing an insurance brokerage company in China.

What's more, the CBIRC circular allows professional insurance intermediaries that are founded by foreign insurance group companies or foreign-funded insurance group companies in China to operate related insurance intermediary business. Professional insurance intermediaries here refer to professional insurance agencies, insurance brokerage institutions and insurance assessment institutions.

Before business operation, professional foreign-funded insurance intermediaries shall carry out in accordance with related laws and regulations record filing or obtain correspondent business licenses in China.