Gross negligence is a familiar concept in insurance policies sold in the Chinese market, particularly property policies. The all-risk policy issued by the People’s Insurance Company of China and the contractual liability insurance provided by newcomers to the industry, including the policies offered by foreign insurers, exclude accidents resulting from the insured’s gross negligence. Although this position seems clear in principle, it can be harder to determine in practice, as the fire at China Central Television (CCTV) has demonstrated.

Continue Reading Defining ‘Gross Negligence’: Will Insurers Be Left Exposed?

In many high-value insurance cases, two key issues to consider are (i) whether the applicant or policyholder has an insurable interest in the object of the contract, and (ii) how the insurer applies its subrogation rights after compensation is paid to the insured party.

Continue Reading Analyzing Insurable Interest and Subrogation

Industry experts expect the China Insurance Regulatory Commission to announce the Detailed Rules for Investment in Unlisted Companies’ Equity by Insurance Companies and the Detailed Rules for Investment in Real Estate by Insurance Companies in October 2009. It has already published five sets of rules concerning insurance funds’ investment channels and their investment in infrastructure projects, which were issued on April 7 2009.

Continue Reading Insurance Companies Await Regulator’s Rules on Private Equity

With the rapid development of Chinese insurance market and the trend of the financial deregulation, more and more foreign financial institutions want to invest in Chinese insurance companies. How to invest in a Chinese insurance company are concerns of many of my foreign clients. As you know, there are two basic accesses for foreign financial institutions to invest in Chinese insurance company, one is to establish a “foreign funded” insurance company with its Chinese partners in China, the other is to purchase a Chinese insurance company’s equities. This article focuses on the second one.

Continue Reading Accesses for Foreign Insurance Company’s Equity Investment in Chinese Insurance Company

These days, more and more Chinese people prefer buying policy issued by foreign insurance companies. Compared to the current under-developed situation of Chinese insurance industry, many Chinese Insured think that foreign insurance companies may offer services that more mature and cover more aspects. Driven by the high profit Chinese insurance market may generate, many foreign insurance companies tries to market their insurance products in China. However, there are real barriers and potential legal risks to foreign insurance companies when they are engaging in marketing their products in China.

Continue Reading Can Foreign Insurance Company Sell Policy to Chinese Residents Overseas

The regulation of corporate governance structures is the latest and most important development to the international regulation. For the purpose to strengthen the insurance industry in China and in the light of international experience, China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) promulgated the Guiding Opinion on Regulating the Insurance Company Corporate Governance Structure ( Trial Implementation) (Guiding Opinion on 5 January 2006. This Guiding Opinion is applicable to shareholding insurance companies. Other insurance companies and insurance asset management companies may also refer to this Guiding Opinion for implementation. The main contents of this Guiding Opinion are as follows: 1),strengthen majority shareholder obligations; 2), strengthen Board of Directors construction functions; 3),ensure Supervisory Board Function;4) regulate management level operation; 5),strengthen affiliated transaction and information disclosure management; and 6) corporate governance structure supervision and administration.

Majority shareholder having significant influence on an insurance company’s operation and management must have excellent financial conditions and continuous investment capabilities, must support the insurance company in improving its solvency, and must not use its special positions to damage the lawful rights and interest of the insurance company, the insured, the minority shareholders and other interest parties.

Where the insurance company’s shareholders are in an affiliate relationship with one another, they must take the initiative to report this to the Board of Directors. The insurance company must report its shareholders’ affiliated relationship to CIRC on a timely basis.

Continue Reading Regulations of Corporate Governance Structure of Insurance Companies

Often within my usual work I have to review some Partnership Agreements and Cooperation Agreements between my Chinese clients and their foreign investors. A reoccurring problem that worries my clients and their foreign investors, which results in me having to explain the Chinese regulations, is that in their Partnership Agreement the foreign investors want to send their personnel to assume positions at the Chinese Insurance Company they have invested in. In my personnel opinion, it is not an extreme request for them to administrate or manage the insurance institution to some extent. This said, it still has to be made clear that there are some limitations and qualification requirements, imposed by (CIRC), for the personnel to hold certain positions in Insurance Institutions. In relation to this problem, there are some provisions promulgated by CIRC for reference, such as the Administration of Appointment Qualification for Directors and Senior Management Personnel of Insurance Companies Provisions, the Administration of Appointment Qualification for Senior Management Personnel of Insurance Companies Provisions, and some Amendment Decisions.

Continue Reading The Appointment Qualification for the Senior Management Personnel in Insurance Institutions

Last week, Rio Tinto, a resource giant of Australia, withdrew its proposed transaction with China’s Chinalco, and announced that it will set up a joint venture with another rival miner, BHP Billiton. If the Rio Tinto – BHP Billiton deal is finished, as analysts estimated, there will be a great concert effect, because they will be able to share their ports and railroads in Western Australia, which considerably cuts costs for both parties.

Continue Reading The Extraterritorial Enforcement of China Anti-monopoly Law

On June 05, 2009, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), one of the three enforcement agencies for China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (AML), released two sets of provisions on the procedures to be followed by the agency and its delegates when enforcing the AML. They are: Procedural Provisions on Stopping the Use of Administrative Power to Exclude or Restrict Competition and Procedural Provisions for Investigating Monopoly Agreement and Abuse of Dominant Position Matters. These two provisions will come into effect on July 01, 2009. On June 08, 2009, SAIC published a Set of Questions and Answers about the Two Procedural Provisions on its website, which provides answers and explanations to some of the more pressing issues.

Continue Reading Comments on the Recent Procedural Provisions Promulgated by SAIC