The State Council has recently issued the Decision on Revising the Administrative Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Foreign-invested Insurance Companies and the Administrative Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Foreign-invested Banks (the "Decision"), immediately effective from the date of issuance.
According to the Decision, principal changes incorporated in the latest Administrative Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Foreign-invested Insurance Companies include: lifting the requirement that a foreign insurance company intending to set up a foreign-invested insurance company shall have engaged in insurance business for over 30 years and have set up a representative office within the territory of China for over two years; and allowing foreign insurance group companies to set up foreign-invested insurance companies within the territory of China, and allowing overseas financial institutions to become shareholders of foreign-invested insurance companies. Among principal changes to the Administrative Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Foreign-invested Banks are "removing the requirement regarding the gross assets at the end of the year that precedes the application, that the sole or holding shareholder of the proposed wholly-foreign owned bank, the sole or major foreign shareholder of the proposed Sino-foreign joint venture bank, and the foreign bank proposing to set up a branch, has to satisfy in the past, and removing the requirement that the sole or major Chinese shareholder of a proposed Sino-foreign joint venture bank shall be a financial institution".