Investment scope of insurance asset management products

In late December 215, the Treasury Department of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the Notice on Adjusting the Investment Scope of Insurance Asset Management Products (Draft for Comment) (hereinafter referred to as the Draft for Comment). An industry insider interprets this document as that the investment scope of insurance asset management products has increased assets such as trusts, and at the same time, the declaration of innovative target products has been clarified.

regarding the investment scope of insurance asset management products, the current basis is the Notice on Issues Related to the Pilot Business of Insurance Asset Management Companies in February 213 (hereinafter referred to as the Notice), which limits the investment scope of insurance asset management products to bank deposits, stocks, bonds, securities investment funds, central bank bills, debt financing instruments of non-financial enterprises, credit asset-backed securities, infrastructure investment plans and real estate.

The newly issued "Draft for Comment" aims to adjust the scope of basic assets for investment in insurance asset management products to: the investable scope of insurance funds that meet the regulatory requirements, and other investment varieties recognized by the CIRC, such as creditor's rights and income rights.

the investable scope of insurance funds is clearly defined in the interim measures for the administration of the use of insurance funds. In February, 214, China Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the Notice on Strengthening and Improving Supervision over the Proportion of Insurance Funds, which classified the investable assets of insurance funds into five categories, including liquid assets, fixed income assets, equity assets, real estate assets and other financial assets. Among them, other financial assets include collective trust plans, bank wealth management, financial derivatives, project asset support plans and other insurance asset management products.

A person in charge of an insurance asset management company told the Securities Daily reporter that the biggest change in the investment scope of asset management products in this Exposure Draft is "adding trust", which is equivalent to a great degree of relaxation compared with the current regulations.

"In addition, the Draft for Comment also clarifies the declaration process of innovative products and gives guidelines." The person in charge said.

According to the different basic assets, the Exposure Draft intends to divide the insurance asset management products into two categories: those whose basic assets are within the investable range of insurance funds are ordinary products; If the scope of basic assets exceeds the investable scope of insurance funds, it is an innovative product.

the draft for comment stipulates that an insurance asset management company can apply for the issuance of innovative products after obtaining the product business qualification and completing the issuance of ordinary products. When an insurance asset management company applies for issuing innovative products, it needs to record the product innovation ability. Apply for the issuance of innovative products, and implement the model of risk assessment of the first product and after-the-fact report of similar products.

when issuing asset management products, an insurance asset management company shall register, issue, transfer transactions and disclose information through the asset trading platform designated by the CIRC, and submit an after-the-fact report to the CIRC in accordance with the provisions of the Notice.

The business scope of insurance asset management products is extended to pension insurance companies

In addition, the Draft for Comment also wants to expand the institutions that carry out asset management products business from the existing insurance asset management companies to pension insurance companies, and the latter will carry out product business with reference to relevant regulations.

according to the definition given in the previous notice of the CIRC, insurance asset management products are financial instruments in which insurance asset management companies, as managers, sell standardized product shares to investors and raise funds, and the custodian institutions act as asset custodians, using product assets for investment management for the benefit of investors. Products are divided into targeted products and aggregate products. The former has a subscription threshold of 3 million yuan, while the latter has an investment threshold of 1 million yuan. Investors are institutions such as insurance institutions. "The threshold is 1 million yuan, and the competition is the investment and research ability of various asset management companies." Fixed-income investors of an insurance asset management company commented on this business.

In the eyes of people in pension insurance companies, it is not abrupt that the initiator of this business is extended to pension insurance companies. "Pension insurance companies are asset management institutions to a certain extent, and they have assets management businesses such as annuity and entrusted management of funds for the purpose of pension security, and pension insurance companies are now transforming into asset management institutions." An executive of a pension insurance company told the Securities Daily reporter.

However, the senior executive of the pension insurance company also said that being allowed to carry out asset management products business is in line with the development direction of the transformation of pension insurance companies into asset management institutions, but the pressure to carry out this business is also great, and it is not easy to do it well. After all, the competition in the field of asset management is fierce.

since the pilot, according to the reporter of Securities Daily, the number of insurance asset management companies is increasing, and the types of insurance asset management products are increasing. The investment scope covers not only domestic traditional investment and alternative investment fields, but also overseas investment products. For example, an insurance asset management company has issued a number of asset management products of creditor's rights and income rights that invest in the financing business of securities companies. At the same time, its "global new shares and liquidity opportunity asset management products" want to be "innovative" on a global scale, and no more than 4% of the assets in the products are invested in the initial public offering of stock assets on major overseas stock exchanges.

regarding the development scale, the relevant person in charge of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission once said that by the end of June 214, the scale of insurance asset management products was 61.1 billion yuan. PricewaterhouseCoopers predicted that the current business scale of insurance asset management products was about 1 billion yuan, accounting for 1% of the balance of insurance capital utilization. In the future, the business of insurance asset management products will be adjusted from the current pilot to the complete liberalization of the industry.

the treasury department of the China insurance regulatory commission requires all asset management companies to give their written comments on the contents of the draft for comment before December 31, 215, taking into account the actual situation of the market and their own development.

Further reading: How to buy insurance, which is better, and teach you how to avoid these "pits" of insurance.