China's four major insurers -- Ping An of China, China Life Insurance Group, PICC Property and Casualty Insurance and Taikang Life Insurance -- are piloting their first investments in the country's infrastructure sector.

 

The four were jointly choosing infrastructure construction projects in which to invest a total of 12 billion yuan (US$150 million), the China Securities Journal quoted an authorized source as saying.

 

The 2010 Shanghai World Expo, highways, Shanghai subway and airport construction are the available projects.

 

The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) published the Management Measures on Insurance Funds Directly Invested in Infrastructure Construction in March, permitting insurance funds to go into state-level projects covering transportation, communications, energy, civil construction and environmental protection.

 

Insurance funds invested in infrastructure must come from their own reserves and other funds were banned, a CIRC official said. Later such projects would be able to seek investment from non-insurance sources, such as the stock exchange or inter-bank market.

 

The official also explained that the CIRC was piloting the project by requiring the four insurance companies to invest jointly to decrease risks.

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 22, 2006)