# China Insurance Regulatory Commission

The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) was an agency of China authorized by the State Council to regulate the Chinese insurance products and services market and maintain legal and stable operations of insurance industry. It was founded on November 18, 1998, upgraded from a semi-ministerial to a ministerial institution in 2003, and currently has 31 local offices in every province.
On 17 March 2018, the 13th National People's Congress announced a plan to overhaul China's financial regulatory system. The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), and the banking regulator, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), were merged into the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) with an aim to resolve problems such as unclear responsibilities and cross-regulation. The CBIRC was officially established on 8 April 2018.

## Functions

The main functions of the CIRC were:
| # | Functions | Descriptions |
| 1. | Formulate policies for developing the insurance industry | Create laws, rules and regulations to supervise the industry |
| 2. | Scrutinise and approval of insurance companies, subsidiaries, insurance holding companies | Approve and examine incorporation of insurance entities, merge, split, change or dissolve |
| 3. | Examine and approve the qualifications of managers of various insurance companies | Accreditation, regulate the hiring of senior managers in various insurance companies |
| 4. | Pricing regulation, insurance schemes | Regulate premiums, new insurance products and categories |
| 5. | Supervise the financial health of insurance companies | Ensure payment ability, insurance deposit, insurance guarantee fund |
| 6. | Supervise policy-oriented insurance and compulsory insurance | Regulate self-insurance and mutual insurance, insurance trade associations |
| 7. | Supervise fair competition in industry | To investigate and punish unfair competition and illegal conduct, non compliance of registration |
| 8. | Supervise insurance companies with overseas operations | Regulate overseas operations of domestic insurance firms |
| 9. | Create framework for insurance industry for information, risk, forecast, supervision. | Create standards for risk, forecast, profitability and report to the People's Bank of China. |
| 10. | To undertake other jobs delegated by the State Council | Subordinate to State Council directives |

## Structure

Internal Setup of the CIRC is:
* General Office
* Development and Reform Department
* Finance and Accounting Department
* Property Insurance Regulatory Department
* Personal Insurance Regulatory Department
* Insurance Intermediaries Regulatory Department
* Insurance Fund Management Regulatory Department
* International Department
* Legal Affairs Department
* Statistics and IT Department
* Local Offices Administration Department
* Personnel and Education Department
* Disciplinary Inspection Department

## Funds

In September 2008, CIRC set up a nonprofit state-owned corporation China Insurance Security Fund Co., Ltd. (Chinese: 中国保险保障基金有限责任公司) with a registered capital of 100 million yuan to manage its insurance protection fund, amounting to at least 7 billion yuan (about US$1 billion).

## Management

The chief of the agency, Xiang Junbo, was appointed in October 2011 and has laid plans to introduce pricing and other market reforms.
In April 2017, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced online that Xiang was being investigated for suspected serious violation of the Party's code of conduct. In early September, Xiang was expelled from the CCP and dismissed from public office, the CCDI said.

## List of presidents

| Name (English) | Name (Chinese) | Tenure begins | Tenure ends |
| Ma Yongwei | 马永伟 | November 1998 | October 2002 |
| Wu Dingfu [zh] | 吴定富 | October 2002 | October 2011 |
| Xiang Junbo | 项俊波 | October 2011 | April 2017 |