(Effective Date 1996.08.16)
CHAPTER ONE GENERAL PROVISIONS CHAPTER TWO ESTABLISHMENT, CHANGE AND TERMINATION OF BUSINESS OF INSURANCE AGENCIES CHAPTER THREE BUSINESS SCOPES OF INSURANCE COMPANIES CHAPTER FOUR ADMINISTRATION AND USE OF INSURANCE FUNDS CHAPTER FIVE LICENSE ADMINISTRATION CHAPTER SIX ADMINISTRATION OF INSURANCE CLAUSES AND INSURANCE PREMIUM RATES CHAPTER SEVEN ADMINISTRATION OF THE REPAYMENT ABILITY OF INSURANCE COMPANY CHAPTER EIGHT ADMINISTRATION OF INSURANCE BUSINESS CHAPTER NINE SUPERVISION AND ADMINISTRATION CHAPTER TEN PENALTY PROVISIONS CHAPTER ELEVEN APPENDIX Article 1 This set of regulations are formulated with a view to strengthening the supervision and administration of the insurance Article 2 As the supervision and administrative department of financial affairs for the State, the People’s Bank of China is responsible (1) Examine, approve and administer the establishment, change and termination of business of insurance agencies; (2) Formulate and revise rules and premium rates for major kinds of insurance; and (3) Supervise, administer and examine various insurance businesses and audit their accounts; check and prohibit the unauthorized Insurance companies carry out their insurance business according to law shall be free from any interference of local governments, Article 3 The insurance companies as referred to in this set of regulations are those set up with the approval of the People’s Bank The subdivisions of insurance companies as referred to in this set of regulations are branch companies, liaison offices, business The insurance agencies as referred to in this set of regulations are insurance companies and their subdivisions and other agencies
CHAPTER TWO ESTABLISHMENT, CHANGE AND TERMINATION OF BUSINESS OF INSURANCE AGENCIES Article 4 An insurance company should be established fully in line with the following principles: (1) Conforms to the need of the development of the national economy; (2) Separation of property from personal insurance; (3) Rational distribution and fair competition; and (4) Stresses of economic performance. Article 5 When applying to establish an insurance company and its subdivisions, the applicant should have the following conditions: (1) An insurance company which conducts insurance business nationwide should have a paid in cash capital of not less than
(2) Chairman, vice-chairman, president and vice-president of an insurance company, president and vice-president of a (3) More than 60% of the employees of the insurance company should have engaged in insurance business and graduated from insurance (4) An insurance company should have a definite business site and office facilities which can well accommodate its business and (5) Shareholders of an insurance stock company of limited-liability should acquire shares of the company in accordance with (6) For applying for establishment of a branch company, the insurance company should have been operational for more than one (7) Other conditions as required by the People’s Bank of China. Article 6 An insurance company may apply for the establishment of subdivisions in accordance with the increased amount of insurance One branch company can be applied for establishment in the area of its business activities whenever its premium proceeds increase A branch company may apply for the establishment of one subdivision within the area of its jurisdiction whenever its insurance A branch company or subdivision may apply for the establishment of one liaison office within the area under its jurisdiction An insurance company can only establish one branch company in one city. Article 7 Subdivisions of insurance companies may apply for changing their names provided that their business performance is good. Article 8 The People’s Bank of China exercises two-level examination and approval for the establishment and the change of name of the insurance (1) The Head Office of the People’s Bank of China may examine and approve the establishment and the change of names of 1. Establishment of insurance companies; 2. Establishment of the branch companies of insurance companies, and changes of the name of a subdivision of a branch company 3. Establishment of representative offices of insurance companies; and 4. Establishment of pilot insurance agencies. (2) Branch offices of the People’s Bank of China in provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities or cities enjoying provincial 1. Establishment of subdivisions of branch companies of insurance companies; 2. Establishment of liaison offices and the changes of their names into subdivisions of branch companies; and 3. Establishment of business departments and the changes of their names into subdivisions of branch companies. Before approvals to the establishment of a subdivision or change of name of a liaison office into a subdivision the matter should Article 9 The establishment of an insurance company should go through stages of preparation and starting business. Article 10 An applicant should submit the following materials in applying for the establishment of an insurance agency: (1) Application report for the establishment of the insurance agency; (2) Feasibility study report on the establishment of the insurance agency; (3) The establishment plan and the background of the investors, including the time for the establishment, examining (4) Resumes of the leading responsible persons for the establishment; and (5) Other materials as required to be submitted by the People’s Bank of China. Article 11 The time the People’s Bank of China needs to approve the application for the establishment of an insurance company is Article 12 After approval by the People’s Bank of China, the establishment of an insurance company should be completed within Article 13 In applying for starting business, an insurance company should submit to the People’s Bank of China five copies of each of (1) Application report for starting the business; (2) Certificate for capital verification issued by a capital verification agency which is approved by the People’s Bank (3) Resumes of the would-be leading responsible persons of the insurance company and the basic setup of the company staff members; (4) Certificate of the ownership or the use right of the business site; (5) Company’s articles of association which should confirm to the regulations of “The Insurance Law of the People’s Republic (6) Reinsurance plan; and (7) Other materials as required to be submitted by the People’s Bank of China. Article 14 An insurance company which has been approved to start business by the People’s Bank of China should start its business Article 15 The People’s Bank of China shall check on the qualifications of the would-be leading responsible persons of an insurance company The qualifications for the leading responsible persons of an insurance company shall be worked out separately by the People’s Article 16 The standard name of a subdivision of an insurance company should include; (1) For a branch company: insurance company + name of the place + branch company; (2) For a subdivision company of a branch company: insurance company + name of the place + subdivision company; and (3) For a liaison office: insurance company + name of the place + subdivision company + liaison office or business department. Article 17 An insurance company which has not a subdivision can only carry out business where it is registered. Other insurance agencies can only carry out businesses in areas approved by the People’s Bank of China. Article 18 Changes of the following items of an insurance agency should report to the People’s Bank of China for approval in advance; (1) Increase and decrease of registered capital funds and adjustment of the structure of stock rights; (2) Change of the organizational form of the agency; (3) Adjust the business scope; (4) Change of the name of the agency; (5) Division and merge of the agency; (6) Revise the articles of association; (7) Change of business address; and (8) Other changes as deemed necessary to be approved by the People’s Bank of China. For reporting procedures and examining and approving authority of the above items, please see stipulations of Article 8 Article 19 The termination of business of an insurance agency in accordance with the “Insurance Law” should be reported to the People’s CHAPTER THREE BUSINESS SCOPES OF INSURANCE COMPANIES Article 20 An insurance company is not allowed to both undertake personal insurance and property insurance business. Article 21 The business scope of a property insurance company is limited to the following. (1) Property loss insurance, liability insurance, credibility insurance and agricultural insurance; and (2) The re-insurance of the above insurances. Article 22 The business scope of a personal insurance company is limited to the following: (1) Life insurance, accidental injury insurance and health insurance; and (2) The re-insurance of the above insurances. Article 23 The business scope of a re-insurance company is limited to the following: (1) Accept the re-insurances of the original insurance companies in Articles 21 and 22 of this set of regulations; (2) Accept the legal re-insurance of the domestic insurance companies with the approval of the People’s Bank of China; (3) Handles the transfer of the re-insurance business; and (4) Undertake international re-insurance business with the approval of the People’s Bank of China. CHAPTER FOUR ADMINISTRATION AND USE OF INSURANCE FUNDS Article 24 Insurance funds refer to the capital fund, guarantee fund, operational fund, various reserve funds, accumulation fund, Article 25 The total amount of the operational fund an insurance company allocates to its branch company should not exceed 60% of its Article 26 An insurance company which undertakes business nationwide should deposit an amount of guarantee fund at the Head Office of An insurance company is not allowed to use the guarantee fund without the approval of the People’s Bank of China. Article 27 Insurance companies which undertake insurance businesses other than life insurance should draw premature liability reserve An insurance company with life insurance operations should draw the premature liability reserve fund according to the entire The premature liability reserve fund of an insurance company should be true and adequate. Article 28 An insurance company should draw reserve for outstanding losses according to the insurance indemnities or payment claimed Article 29 Before distributing the after-tax profits in the year, an insurance company should draw 10% of the profits as legal accumulation After drawing legal accumulation fund from the after-tax profits, the insurance company may draw arbitrary accumulation fund Article 30 Accumulation fund of an insurance company is used to make up for the loss of the company, expand the company’s business scope, When a limited-liability insurance company turns the accumulation fund into its capital according to the resolution of the The legal public welfare fund is used for the collective welfare of the company’s employees. Article 31 Apart from the guarantee fund, an insurance company should only deposit its savings in a big commercial bank with good capital Article 32 An insurance company should draw 1% of the insurance premium proceeds of the year as its insurance guarantee fund and the The insurance guarantee fund should be drawn separately and be deposited at a special account in the People’s Bank of China or Article 33 The use of the insurance fund is limited to the following: (1) Bank savings; (2) Buy and sell government securities; (3) Buy and sell financial securities; and (4) Other uses as stipulated by the State Council. CHAPTER FIVE LICENSE ADMINISTRATION Article 34 An insurance business license, a legal person license or an insurance business license, is a legal certificate of an insurance Article 35 The People’s Bank of China is enpost_titled to design, print, issue, confiscate and revoke the insurance business licenses. Any Article 36 An insurance business license should have an original and a duplicate to record the name of the insurance agency, its serial number, Article 37 An insurance agency should put the original of the insurance business license at a prominent place and take good care Article 38 A license shall be changed every three years and when lost during the term, the insurance agency concerned should announce Article 39 The People’s Bank of China shall charge the insurance agency which gets or changes its license a certain amount of fee according
CHAPTER SIX ADMINISTRATION OF INSURANCE CLAUSES AND INSURANCE PREMIUM RATES Article 40 The insurance clauses and insurance premium rates and other documents of an insurance agency should be printed in Chinese, and Article 41 Major insurance varieties refer to those confirmed by the People’s Bank of China, which has the right to readjust the The basic clauses and insurance premium rates for the major varieties are worked out by the Head Office of the People’s Bank Article 42 Insurance clauses and insurance premium rates of other insurance varieties worked out by an individual insurance company Insurance clauses and insurance premium rates of other insurance varieties formulated by the branch company of an insurance Subdivisions of the branch company of an insurance company and its liaison offices should not formulate insurance clauses Article 43 In reporting the property insurance clauses and insurance premium rates, insurance companies should submit the following (1) Five copies of the insurance clauses and insurance premium rates; (2) Market forecast of the insured products, materials about the loss of the objects of insurance in the latest three years (3) The calculating formula and method; and (4) Other materials as required to be submitted to the People’s Bank of China. Article 44 In reporting life insurance clauses and insurance premium rates, the insurance company should submit the following documents: (1) Five copies of the insurance clauses and the insurance premium rates; (2) Market forecast of the insured products, the planned interest rates, expenses rates and profits rates and the life table used; (3) The formula and method of calculating insurance premium rates, insurance liability reserve funds, and insurance withdrawal (4) Other materials as required to be submitted to the People’s Bank of China. Article 45 While reporting the insurance clauses and premium rates of a new insurance to the People’s Bank of China for the record, insurance Article 46 Within the same province, autonomous region or municipality, various insurance companies should use a unified package of insurance Article 47 Records of annual compensation rates, premium rates, and profit rates of insurance companies and subdivisions should be well
CHAPTER SEVEN ADMINISTRATION OF THE REPAYMENT ABILITY OF INSURANCE COMPANY Article 48 Insurance company should have a lowest repayment ability in compatible to its business scope. Article 49 The lowest repayment ability of an insurance company is the balance of its actual assets after deducting the actual debts The actual assets of an insurance company are the balance of its total assets after deducting the following items: (1) Various advance payments except advance repayments; (2) Deferred assets; (3) Intangible assets; (4) Low value and fast depreciated articles; (5) Actual bad receivables; (6) Cost of securities in exceed of current market price; (7) Bad accounts in funds; (8) One-tenth of the immovable property and fixed assets; and (9) Other assets which cannot be changed into cash or may suffer losses in the course of changing as considered by the People’s The actual debts of an insurance company are the total assets after deducting the actually received capital fund, public accumulation Article 50 The lowest repayment ability of a property insurance company should be: (1) not lower than RMB100 million when the self retained net premium proceeds in the preceding year being less than or (2) not lower than RMB100 million or one-third of the self retained premium expenses, which is higher, when the self retained (3) not lower than RMB1 billion or one-fourth of the self retained net premium expense, which is higher, when the self retained Article 51 The lowest repayment ability of a life insurance company should be: (1) not lower than RMB100 million when the actual debt is less than or equal to RMB300 million; (2) not lower than RMB100 million or one-fourth of the actual debt, which is higher, when the actual debt is more than RMB300 (3) not lower than RMB250 million or one-sixth of the actual debt, which is higher, when the actual debt is more than RMB1 billion (4) not lower than RMB500 million or one-eighth of the actual debt, which is higher, when the actual debt is more than RMB3 Article 52 Should the repayment ability of an insurance company is lower than the standard set above in this set of regulations, the insurance (1) immediately undertake re-insurance, business transfer or readjust the asset debt structure in 30 days in a way recognized (2) immediately stop insurance business from the date of discovering the situation, hand in a report of self-criticism, a remedial (3) do the following upon decision of the People’s Bank of China if the balance is more than 20% and less than 40% of the 1. Overhaul and consolidate the company within a set period of time; 2. Stop part of its business; 3. Shut down; and 4. Other measures. (4) apply to the people’s court for announcing its bankruptcy when the balance is more than 40% of the lowest repayment ability. CHAPTER EIGHT ADMINISTRATION OF INSURANCE BUSINESS Article 53 Insurance companies should adhere to the principles of fairness, justice reasonableness and competition in carrying out Article 54 Insurance companies should not entrust insurance agents unauthorized by the People’s Bank of China to carry out its business Article 55 Insurance companies and their employees should not provide insurers, insureds and the beneficiaries with premium discounts or Article 56 Written promotional materials of the insurance companies should have names of insurance companies. Article 57 Written promotional materials should not comprise profit or dividend forecasts of insurance companies. Article 58 Insurance personnel should not carry out business activities in areas unauthorized by the People’s Bank of China. Article 59 After receiving claims for compensation or payment from insureds or
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