China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) has agreed to allow nine fund management companies and securities brokerages to manage funds of insurance firms in the country.
The nine companies include Bosera Asset Management, Dacheng Fund Management, HuaAn Fund Management, HFT Investment Management, Huatai-PineBridge Fund Management, Harvest Fund Management, Lion Fund Management, Haitong Securities and China International Capital.
The decision comes at a time, when Chinese insurers are facing issues with managing investments, low returns and decreased asset value.
The insurance regulator had already passed a decree in July this year, according to which China’s insurers can outsource certain investment operations for stocks, bonds and mutual funds.
The selected companies will have to maintain a minimum of $1.6bn in outstanding assets under management to handle investments of insurers, as part of the new rule.