Perspective on the amendment of insurance law: broadening the channels for the use of insurance funds

　　Xinhuanet Beijing, August 25th (Reporter Mao Xiaomei, Wu Jingjing) China’s current insurance law stipulates that the use of insurance funds is relatively narrow. However, in recent years, with the increasing scale of the insurance market, the rapid accumulation of insurance funds has become a bottleneck for the development of the insurance industry because of the narrow channels of application and the difficulty of maintaining and increasing value.

　　Wu Dingfu, chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, explained the revised draft of the Insurance Law at the fourth meeting of the 11th the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) on 25th, saying that the revised draft appropriately broadened the channels for the use of insurance funds, considering that the use of insurance funds should not only meet the needs of industry and economic development, but also take into account the principles of safety and stability. For example, the "buying and selling government bonds and financial bonds" stipulated in the current insurance law is revised to "buying and selling bonds, stocks, securities investment funds and other securities"; It is added that insurance funds can be invested in real estate.

　　In order to prevent risks in the use of insurance funds, the revised draft also authorizes the State Council insurance regulatory agencies to formulate management measures for the use of insurance funds in the form of authorization clauses, including stipulating the specific proportion of funds invested by insurance companies in a specific project to their total funds.

　　In fact, the investment of insurance funds in stocks and funds has already been broken through in practice. In recent years, according to the decision of the State Council and the actual needs of the development of the insurance industry, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) combined with the provisions of the current insurance law "other forms of capital utilization stipulated by the State Council", A series of regulations and normative documents, such as Interim Measures for the Administration of Insurance Companies Investing in Securities Investment Funds, Interim Measures for the Administration of Insurance Companies Investing in Corporate Bonds, Interim Provisions for the Administration of Insurance Asset Management Companies, Interim Measures for the Administration of Overseas Use of Insurance Foreign Exchange Funds, and Interim Measures for the Administration of Stock Investment of Insurance Institutional Investors, have been issued successively. While broadening the channels for the utilization of insurance funds and trying to innovate the organizational form of fund utilization, they have achieved a good balance between safety and efficiency and effectively prevented the risk of fund utilization. At present, insurance companies have become one of the most important institutional investors in the domestic capital market.

　　"The revised draft of the Insurance Law is the new investment channel approved by the State Council in recent years." Yang Huabai, director of the regulatory department of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, told reporters.

　　As for the insurance law’s plan to "open the gate" for the first time to invest in real estate with insurance funds, the relevant person of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission said that the scale of real estate investment is large and the term is long, which is more in line with the characteristics of insurance funds pursuing long-term, valuable and steady investment. Opening this channel can give play to the capital financing function of insurance, support the national economic construction, optimize the insurance asset structure and cultivate a new profit model for the insurance industry. In practice, some insurance companies have tried to invest in developing commercial real estate.

　　Yang Huabai said that for the regulatory authorities, the implementation of any new investment policy must be based on effective prevention and control of risks. "Once the law allows investment in real estate, the CIRC will first limit the proportion of this investment in the company’s total funds in the future and formulate a specific method for real estate investment." Because the insurance industry’s investment in real estate is still unfamiliar and lacks professional experience, it is necessary to adhere to the system first and advance steadily.

　　According to the announcement, there are more than 100 Chinese and foreign insurance companies in China, and the total assets of the insurance industry are about 3 trillion yuan. In 2007, the balance of insurance funds in China reached 2.7 trillion yuan, which was 10.5 times that of 2000.

　　It is understood that in recent years, emerging insurance organizations such as cooperative insurance institutions and mutual insurance institutions have appeared in the insurance market. This revised draft adds provisions that insurance organizations in the form of mutual system and cooperative system shall be stipulated separately by laws and administrative regulations, and the provisions of this law shall apply to their insurance business activities. Thereby giving legal status to insurance organizations such as mutual system and cooperative system.

　　It is also known that the quality of insurance companies directly relates to the interests of the vast number of policyholders, insured and beneficiaries. In order to improve the quality of insurance companies, in this revision, the insurance law intends to make stricter provisions on the conditions for the establishment of insurance companies, and will clearly state the qualifications of company executives.

　　The revision of insurance law intends to improve the management of insurance intermediaries.

　　Xinhuanet Beijing, August 25th (Reporter Wu Jingjing, Mao Xiaomei) With the development of the insurance market, some new types of insurance intermediary service institutions have emerged in China, such as insurance assessment institutions, which need to be regulated by law. The revised draft of the Insurance Law, which was deliberated at the fourth session of the 11th the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) on 25th, further improved the management of insurance intermediaries.

　　When explaining the revised draft, Wu Dingfu, chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, said that the provisions of the current insurance law on insurance intermediaries are relatively simple, and there are some gaps in both the subject and the code of conduct.

　　According to reports, the revised draft clarifies that part-time insurance agency is an important form of insurance agency to solve the problem of unclear legal status of part-time insurance agency; It is clear that insurance assessment institutions are insurance intermediaries, and the registered capital, employees and business rules of their business scope are stipulated; Considering the characteristics of individual insurance agents, the revised draft deletes the provisions in the current insurance law that individual insurance agents should obtain insurance agency business licenses, handle industrial and commercial registration, obtain business licenses, deposit deposits or take out professional liability insurance, and only stipulates that individual insurance agents should meet the qualifications stipulated by the State Council insurance regulatory authorities and obtain qualification certificates; The legitimate business activities of individual insurance agents shall not be investigated and dealt with without a license.

　　China revises insurance law to crack down on insurance violations

　　Xinhuanet Beijing, August 25th (Reporter Wu Jingjing, Mao Xiaomei) China’s current insurance law is not perfect in terms of penalties for insurance violations, and there is a lack of penalties for some illegal acts, which makes illegal acts unable to get due sanctions. The revised draft of the Insurance Law, which was reviewed at the fourth session of the 11th the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) on 25th, further clarified the legal responsibilities and cracked down on insurance violations.

　　Wu Dingfu, chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, said that with the continuous development of the insurance market, on the one hand, it is necessary to provide corresponding penalties for some new insurance violations, and on the other hand, it is necessary to improve the penalties in the existing insurance law.

　　The revised draft of the insurance law has increased the punishment for new illegal acts. New illegal acts mainly include illegal appointment of directors, supervisors and senior managers; Insurance companies and their staff make false claims by means of fictitious contracts to defraud insurance money or other illegitimate interests; Lease, lend, alter or transfer the business license; Insurance companies and their staff engage in related party transactions in violation of regulations, fail to disclose information in accordance with regulations, fabricate and spread false facts, etc., which damage the business reputation of competitors and disrupt the order of the insurance market; Insurance companies and their staff misappropriate and occupy insurance premiums and use insurance intermediaries to engage in illegal acts; Insurance intermediaries conceal important information related to insurance contracts, force, induce or restrict the insured to conclude insurance contracts by improper means, and fail to pay insurance money or take out professional liability insurance in accordance with regulations; Foreign insurance institutions set up representative offices in China without approval to engage in insurance business.

　　The revised draft also increases the accountability of those responsible for illegal acts, and stipulates that insurance companies, insurance asset management companies and insurance intermediaries engage in illegal activities. In addition to punishing illegal institutions, insurance regulators can also take measures such as canceling their qualifications and implementing market bans for their directly responsible directors, supervisors and senior managers. Insurance salesmen, personal agents and employees of insurance intermediaries who violate the law can be warned, fined, their qualification certificates revoked and banned from the market.

　　In view of the actual situation of various economic sectors investing in the insurance industry, in order to prevent investors from using insurance companies as financing tools, the revised draft draws lessons from the legislation of other countries and regions, and stipulates that if an insurance company’s assets are insufficient to pay off its debts due to its illegal operation, its directors, supervisors, general manager and deputy general manager responsible for deciding the business shall be jointly and severally liable to the company’s creditors.

　　On the basis of the current insurance law, the revised draft increases the restrictions on the administrative behavior of insurance supervisors, and stipulates the corresponding legal responsibilities for the illegal acts of supervisors in approving institutions, approving insurance clauses and rates, conducting on-site inspections and taking compulsory measures.

　　China revises insurance law and strengthens self-discipline management of insurance industry.

　　Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, August 25th (Reporter Wu Jingjing, Mao Xiaomei) A chapter "Insurance Industry Association" was added to the revised draft of the Insurance Law, which was deliberated at the fourth session of the 11th the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) on August 25th, and the legal status and main responsibilities of insurance industry associations were stipulated.

　　"In order to promote the transformation of government management functions, improve insurance supervision methods and make effective use of supervision resources, we should give full play to the role of insurance industry associations as a self-regulatory organization." Wu Dingfu, chairman of China Insurance Regulatory Commission, said. The revised draft stipulates that the insurance industry association is a self-regulatory organization of the insurance industry and a social group legal person. An insurance company shall join an insurance industry association. Insurance agents, insurance brokers and insurance assessment institutions may join insurance industry associations.

　　The revised draft also stipulates the responsibilities that insurance industry associations should perform, including safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of members in accordance with the law and reflecting the suggestions and requirements of members to insurance supervision and management institutions; To mediate disputes between members, members and policyholders, insured and beneficiaries; Members who violate the articles of association of the insurance industry association and the self-discipline rules of the industry shall be given disciplinary sanctions in accordance with the regulations. (End)

　　The amendment of insurance law intends to improve the market exit mechanism of insurance companies

　　Xinhuanet Beijing, August 25th (Reporter Wu Jingjing, Mao Xiaomei) The revised draft of the Insurance Law, which was deliberated at the fourth session of the 11th the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) on the 25th, further improved the market withdrawal mechanism of insurance companies.

　　The current insurance law has made some provisions on the cancellation and bankruptcy of insurance companies. In order to maintain the order of the insurance market and public interests, the revised draft, on the basis of the existing provisions, adds provisions that insurance companies have illegal operations, poor management or solvency lower than the standards set by the State Council insurance regulatory agencies. If the insurance company is not revoked, it will seriously endanger the order of the insurance market and damage the public interests. The insurance regulatory agency of the State Council will revoke it and organize a liquidation team in time to conduct liquidation according to law.

　　According to the relevant provisions of the Enterprise Bankruptcy Law, the revised draft also provides for special matters concerning the bankruptcy of insurance companies, mainly including: stipulating that the State Council insurance regulatory agencies can apply to the people’s court for reorganization or bankruptcy liquidation of insurance companies; The order of debt settlement in bankruptcy liquidation of insurance companies is further clarified.

Editor: Meng Xu

　　作者：高惺惟（中央党校〔国家行政学院〕习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究中心研究员）

　　日前召开的中央金融工作会议指出，“金融是国民经济的血脉，是国家核心竞争力的重要组成部分，要加快建设金融强国”。我国金融正处在由“大”到“强”的关键时期，机遇与挑战并存。建设金融强国，必须坚持和加强党的全面领导，坚定不移走中国特色金融发展之路，推动我国金融高质量发展。

　　1.金融是国民经济的血脉和国家核心竞争力的重要组成部分

　　习近平总书记指出：“金融活，经济活；金融稳，经济稳。经济兴，金融兴；经济强，金融强。经济是肌体，金融是血脉，两者共生共荣。”党的二十大报告指出，“高质量发展是全面建设社会主义现代化国家的首要任务。发展是党执政兴国的第一要务”。金融是现代经济的核心，能够通过发挥配置资源的功能助推一国生产力发展、经济腾飞、科技创新和产业升级，是国家重要的核心竞争力。加快建设金融强国，是我国经济社会发展的需要，也是我国经济长远发展的战略抉择，更是在金融全球化进程中维护国家金融安全的需要，事关国家繁荣富强、社会和谐稳定、人民幸福安康。全面建成社会主义现代化强国需要建设一个金融强国。

　　Finance is the blood that nourishes the body of the economy, and it is a symbiotic relationship with the real economy. The development of finance depends on the real economy, and the development of the real economy needs the empowerment of financial services. Specifically, financial institutions can provide necessary financial support for the real economy, thus promoting the development of the real economy. Finance can enlarge the production capacity and market space of start-ups and prolong the energy storage time of new technologies. By building a modern financial institution and market system, diversified financial services can guide more resources into new fields and new tracks, which is conducive to the accumulation of new kinetic energy in the real economy. All work in the financial sector actively serves the implementation of major national strategies, and can continuously inject "flowing water" into the implementation of relevant strategies by optimizing the allocation of financial resources in rural revitalization, scientific and technological innovation, small and micro enterprises, green development and other fields, adding new vitality to the high-quality development of the economy and society. Finance is an important tool to stabilize macroeconomic operation. By strengthening policy implementation and work promotion and maintaining reasonable and abundant liquidity, the cost of social financing can be effectively reduced, thus stabilizing the market expectation of the real economy and providing a good financial environment for economic and social development.

　　Finance is an important core competitiveness of a country, financial system is an important basic system in economic and social development, and financial security is an important content of national security. Since its birth, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has recognized the importance of finance, attached great importance to financial work, and ensured the financial cause to move in the right direction. From supporting the revolutionary war, to establishing a new regime, and then to serving the socialist modernization, the financial industry has achieved leap-forward development again and again. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, under the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee, China’s high-quality financial development has made new major achievements, the financial system has been continuously improved, and financial supervision has been improved, which has effectively supported the overall economic and social development in the new era and made important contributions to building a well-off society in an all-round way as scheduled and achieving the goal of the first century. In the new era and new journey, Chinese modernization will comprehensively promote the construction of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation. We must speed up the construction of a financial power, comprehensively strengthen financial supervision, improve the financial system, optimize financial services, guard against and resolve risks, unswervingly follow the road of financial development with China characteristics, and promote the high-quality development of China’s finance.

　　2. The inherent requirements of a socialist modern financial power

　　The first is people’s nature. "People’s interests first" is the value pursuit of China’s financial work. If finance does not serve the interests of the country and the people, there will be chaos in the financial field. Financial work must adhere to the people-centered value orientation, the fundamental purpose of financial services to the real economy, the eternal theme of financial work, the deepening of structural reform on the financial supply side, the overall planning of financial opening and security, and the general tone of striving for progress while maintaining stability. This requires the financial work to practice the Party’s purpose, the financial system to improve its political position, adhere to political principles, firm its political direction and maintain its political strength, and always bear in mind that the Party’s purpose is to serve the people wholeheartedly, and the people’s position is the fundamental position of the Party and the fundamental position of the financial work led by the Party.

　　The second is marketization. The central financial work conference pointed out that "we should persist in promoting financial innovation and development on the track of marketization and rule of law". Market economy is essentially an economy in which the market determines the allocation of resources. Practice has proved that the allocation of resources by the market is the most efficient way of resource allocation. To improve the level of market-oriented allocation of financial resources, on the one hand, we must vigorously develop the capital market, optimize the financing structure, and give full play to the hub function of the capital market. The development degree of capital market represents the development degree of financial marketization in a certain sense, and it is the most dynamic platform in the financial system. Developing capital market plays a key role in building a modern economic system. On the other hand, we should steadily promote the reform of interest rate marketization, so that interest rates can give full play to the role of guiding resource allocation. Steadily promoting interest rate marketization is one of the core contents of improving macro-control and deepening financial reform in China, and the interest rate marketization reform can play a vital role in the efficient allocation of funds.

　　The third is internationalization. Adhere to both "bringing in" and "going out", steadily expand the institutional opening of the financial sector, enhance the facilitation of cross-border investment and financing, attract more foreign-funded financial institutions and long-term capital to develop their businesses in China, and serve the construction of the "Belt and Road". To this end, it is necessary to further optimize the business environment, continue to significantly reduce the restrictions on foreign investment access, create a new platform for international cooperation, provide global investors with a stable investment place under the rule of law, and strive to become the first choice for foreign enterprises to invest. Adhere to the overall planning of financial opening and security, and strive to promote high-level financial opening. High-level financial openness requires steady and prudent internationalization of RMB, which will help enterprises to guard against the risk of liquidity shortage, realize the stability of global foreign exchange reserves, and make RMB an "anchor currency", which is the need of rebalancing global economic development.

　　The fourth is technology. The financial industry is an information-intensive industry, and information is very important to the financial industry. According to the theory of financial intermediary, financial intermediary has the function of information production, which can provide information to the market and alleviate the information asymmetry between the two parties. Due to the advantages of network in information production and transmission, financial technology not only speeds up information transmission, but also improves the ability of information collection and reduces the cost of information processing, thus improving the information production ability of financial intermediaries. At present, the network has become a platform for human beings to create and share information, and the traditional information dissemination mode is undergoing essential changes under the promotion of network information technology. Financial technology promotes the integration of electronic information technology and traditional finance, innovates the financial format, increases the convenience of financial services, and improves the quality of financial services to the real economy in many fields.

　　The fifth is inclusiveness. The purpose of inclusive finance is to enable everyone to get financial services at the right price in a timely and dignified manner when they need them. Inclusive finance is consistent with the development concept of "sharing". The economic value of inclusive finance lies in helping to adjust the imbalance between supply and demand of finance, especially the imbalance between supply and demand of financial structure, so that finance can better serve the real economy. The social value of inclusive finance lies in helping low-income people and small and micro enterprises to obtain financial services, so that everyone can have the right to enjoy financial services fairly. In essence, inclusive finance helps low-income groups and small and micro enterprises get the right to get rich through fair development, which can promote inclusive economic growth and harmonious social development.

　　The sixth is security. The Central Financial Work Conference called for "strengthening financial supervision in an all-round way and effectively preventing and resolving financial risks". Preventing financial risks and maintaining financial security are the eternal themes of financial work. Financial markets and financial institutions must be supervised according to law in order to better guard against financial risks and safeguard the interests of investors. Financial institutions are different from ordinary enterprises, and once something goes wrong, it may lead to systemic risks. The financial industry has strong publicity, externality and sociality, and financial risks are highly contagious and hidden, which requires that financial supervision must be strict, "measuring to the end with a ruler".

　　3. Promote the construction of a strong financial country with structural reform on the financial supply side.

　　Over the past 40 years, China’s financial system has been continuously improved in the reform. To build a strong financial country, we must continue to rely on reform, especially deepen the structural reform of the financial supply side, improve the financial market, financial institutions and financial product systems by optimizing the financial structure, clarify the market-oriented objectives and strengthen the responsibility of supervision, and keep the bottom line that systematic financial risks do not occur.

　　Give full play to the function of the capital market hub. For a long time, China mainly relied on the indirect financing system dominated by banks, which led to a high leverage ratio of enterprises and increased financial risks to some extent. Therefore, it is necessary to further improve the financial market structure, enlarge and strengthen the capital market, build a standardized, transparent, open, dynamic and resilient capital market, and increase the proportion of direct financing. At the critical stage of China’s economy from high-speed growth to high-quality development, the capital market will play a central role in adjusting the industrial structure and building an innovative economic system. Since the reform and opening up, China’s capital market construction has made great progress, but it still faces the problems of low efficiency and imperfect mechanism. To further improve the capital market in the new period, on the one hand, let the capital market play a decisive role in resource allocation. We will promote the deepening of the stock issuance registration system, develop diversified equity financing, vigorously improve the quality of listed companies, and cultivate first-class investment banks and institutions. On the other hand, better play the role of the government. The regulatory authorities maintain the fairness and transparency of the market, resolutely crack down on illegal activities such as market manipulation, insider trading and false information disclosure, and pay more attention to protecting the interests of investors.

　　Steadily and prudently promote the internationalization of RMB. As long as China’s economy can maintain a high-quality growth momentum, RMB internationalization will be realized stably. In this process, it is necessary to cultivate high-quality development and high-level open microeconomic entities, with the focus on improving the competitiveness of enterprises and products. In addition, we will unswervingly deepen reform and opening up in the financial sector. In the future, the interest rate and exchange rate of RMB should be determined by the market, and the opening of capital account and financial market should be promoted step by step under the principle of efficiency, stability and effectiveness, so that offshore RMB can have a better investment place. Improve the infrastructure construction of RMB internationalization, and strive to realize the services of RMB cross-border payment system (CIPS) wherever there is RMB.

　　Build a modern central banking system and always maintain the stability of monetary policy. The independence of the central bank is an important part of the modern central banking system. We should strive to create a good monetary and financial environment, always maintain the stability of monetary policy, pay more attention to cross-cycle and countercyclical adjustment, and enrich the monetary policy toolbox. At present, the main goal of unblocking the transmission mechanism of monetary policy is to establish the transmission mechanism of price-based monetary policy by deepening the interest rate marketization reform, taking the loan market quotation rate (LPR) indirectly regulated by the central bank as the operational goal of monetary policy, taking the deposit and loan interest rate of financial institutions determined by market supply and demand as the intermediate goal of monetary policy, and keeping the currency stable and promoting economic growth as the ultimate goal of monetary policy.

　　Adhere to the implementation of inclusive finance. An important part of promoting the structural reform of the financial supply side is to build a multi-level, wide-coverage and differentiated banking system. In this system, commercial banks, policy banks, city commercial banks, rural financial institutions, private banks and village banks have their own positions, perform their duties and complement each other. State-owned commercial banks should define their position, take the establishment of modern enterprise system as the guide, and keep a close eye on the core goal of "becoming stronger, better and bigger". Policy banks should clearly define their functions, clarify their business boundaries, and take national interests and national strategic needs as their business values. Their main role is to make up for market failures in some areas and do things that commercial banks are unwilling to do, cannot do and cannot do well. Rural commercial banks can better serve small and medium-sized enterprises by relying on the long-term accumulated local credit and its flexible interest rate policy. They should identify their own differentiated positioning, establish business priorities, pay attention to meeting the differentiated, personalized and customized business needs of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" and small and medium-sized enterprises, and "do small things" to reduce the loan concentration and the loan scale per household.

　　Comprehensively strengthen financial supervision and effectively prevent and resolve financial risks. Comprehensively strengthen institutional supervision, behavioral supervision, functional supervision, penetrating supervision and continuous supervision, eliminate regulatory gaps and blind spots, and better safeguard financial security. First, improve the modern financial enterprise system with China characteristics, improve the management of state-owned financial capital, broaden the channels for bank capital replenishment, and do a good job in risk isolation between industry and finance. Early identification, early warning, early exposure and early disposal of risks, sound early correction mechanism of financial risks with hard constraints, and timely disposal of risks of small and medium-sized financial institutions. The second is to establish a long-term mechanism to prevent and resolve local debt risks, establish a government debt management mechanism that is compatible with high-quality development, and optimize the debt structure of central and local governments. The third is to prevent financial risks caused by the real estate market. Promote a virtuous circle between finance and real estate, improve the main supervision system and fund supervision of real estate enterprises, improve macro-prudential management of real estate finance, and meet the reasonable financing needs of real estate enterprises with different ownership equally. The fourth is to strengthen the supervision of financial technology. The rapid development of financial technology has enhanced the concealment of financial risks, added many new financial risk points, and put forward higher requirements for the ability of financial supervision. Therefore, financial supervision departments need to innovate financial supervision means and balance the relationship between financial innovation and financial security, so as to encourage financial innovation that will help improve the efficiency of financial services and control financial risks within a safe range.

　　Guangming Daily (November 10, 2023, 06 edition)