CHINA SETS LIMITS ON PREMIUM CHANGES BY INSURANCE FIRMS

China’s insurance regulators have set limits on premium growth for insurance companies, in a move aimed at promoting the sector’s stable development, China Securities reports. Property insurers that have operated for more than three years would be required to keep their premium growth within a “normal” rate of 33%, up or down, the official newspaper said. Limits for long-term life assurance were set between minus-10% and plus-50%. The new directive also included other requirements for financial ratios that market regulators would use to grade insurers' operational performances, the newspaper said. “Insurers failing to meet the minimum requirements will be ordered to improve within specified time limits, or even be banned from operation”, it added, quoting rules issued by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC). A CIRC official confirmed that the new regulations had been issued, but declined to go into greater detail. The newspaper did not specify whether the new guidelines also applied to foreign-invested insurance companies. An unnamed official at a Chinese insurance firm was quoted as saying that “the growth rates are roughly in line with the levels in developed Western insurance markets”.