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China: Pilot programme for insurance company and agency cross-regional business

The Chinese regulator has released two new regulations containing measures for the pilot of a programme to promote cross-regional insurance

Tue 21 Feb 2017

Background

The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (“CIRC”) has released two new regulations to facilitate cross-regional business for insurance companies and agencies in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. The pilot programme, which is effective from 1 February 2017, will last for two years.

Criteria

Under the programme, if an insurance company establishes a provincial branch in either Beijing, Tianjin or Hebei, through a pre-filing process with CIRC, the branch can engage in direct business across the three regions, provided the insurance company meets certain regulatory requirements, for example:

  1. a minimum grade of 'B' for IRR (C-ROSS Integrated Risk Rating) and compliance with  other solvency requirements in the previous year and recent two quarters;
  2. sound internal controls;
  3. no major regulatory penalties in the past two years;
  4. the branch has been in operation for at least a year and has designated a specialised department to manage integrated operations in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei.

Objective

The objective of the pilot is to incentivise the establishment of insurance companies and agencies in Tianjin and Hebei, where set-up costs are traditionally lower than Beijing.

The pilot programme is of benefit to the Lloyd’s market as syndicates who participate in Lloyd’s Insurance Company (China) Ltd. will be able to write direct business from the Lloyd’s China Beijing branch into the other two territories, provided a convincing direct business development plan has been presented to Lloyd’s China.

If an insurance agency is registered either in Beijing, Tianjin or Hebei province with a nationwide agency licence, it may also engage in insurance agency business (excluding personal lines) across these three regions subject to a pre-filing process with CIRC local offices.

It should be noted that in China an insurance agency is a distribution channel authorised by an insurer to sell insurance products (direct insurance only) and will not make underwriting decisions. Insurance agencies are therefore not to be interpreted as coverholders as underwriting authority has not been delegated to them to bind risks.

Contact

Maggie Zhu

Board Secretary, Deputy General Manager & Head of Legal and Compliance
Lloyd's Insurance Company (China) Ltd

+86 (0)21 6162 8211
Songlin Chen

General Manager of Beijing Branch
Lloyd's Insurance Company (China) Ltd

+86 (0)10 8526 4801
Lloyd's International Trading Advice

Lloyd’s Desk, Ground Floor, Underwriting Room

+44 (0)20 7327 6677