Making insurers transparent

A visitor checks his cellphone at the gate of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission. It also said in March that insurers should stop selling products like universal life insurance with shorter than one year tenures. Yuan Xucheng, director of the Life Insurance Supervision Department at CIRC, said short- and medium-term insurance products developed fast in China, but some companies may face risks like asset-liability imbalance, misselling of products and cash flow problems. For instance, Chinese property developer Vanke complained to the CIRC in July that its largest shareholder, the Baoneng Group, took advantage of its insurance assets to "illegally" grab the lion's share of asset management plans. Many of Baoneng's asset management plans are linked to short- and medium-term products like universal life insurance, according to the company.