BEIJING, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Restrictions over the foreign equity proportion in China's banking and insurance sectors have all been removed so far, reported Xinhua Finance citing Ye Yanfei, head of the Policy Research Bureau of China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) on July 21.
Ye made the remarks on a press conference held on July 21, saying that China's banking and insurance industries made significant progresses in opening up in the past decade and China's financial industry and financial market became more and more attractive.
Quantitative thresholds for foreign investment access have largely been reduced, including cancelation of related requirements on total assets, years of operation, and years of operation of their representative offices in China. During 2018-2021 period, CBIRC approved establishment of more than 120 foreign-funded institutions.
By now, business scopes of Chinese and foreign-funded banking and insurance institutions have been basically the same, noted Ye. For instance, foreign-funded banks are allowed to provide payment and receipts agent services and foreign-funded insurers are permitted to run mandatory vehicle insurance business.
By the end of May, 41 foreign-funded banks with legal person statuses, 116 branches of foreign banks and 134 representative offices had been set up in China and overseas insurers established 67 foreign-funded insurance institutions and 80 representative offices in China. (Edited by Duan Jing with Xinhua Silk Road, duanjing@xinhua.org)
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