China to let six insurers invest in Bank of China

SHANGHAI, June 3 (Reuters) China will let six insurance firms invest 0 million in Bank of China Ltd.'s Hong Kong listed shares, as it slowly opens the door for domestic insurers to invest abroad, state media reported on Saturday.

State media reported earlier this week that the country's top life insurer, China Life Insurance Co. Ltd., and smaller Taikang Life would be given quotas to invest overseas, without providing more specifics.

That pair, along with China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co. Ltd., Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd. and the state parents of China Life and PICC Property and Casualty Co. Ltd., will be given quotas to invest a collective 0 million in newly listed Bank of China shares, the official Shanghai Securities News said, citing an unnamed source.

The six will make the investment under China's fledgling Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) scheme, designed to give Chinese financial institutions and other institutional investors more options to improve returns and hedge risk.

Official new rules governing overseas investments by the insurance industry will be released around August or September, the newspaper said, citing the unnamed source.

In April, China's domestic insurers and banks received the official nod to invest in overseas capital markets through the QDII programme.

Ping An, the nation's second-biggest life insurer, had previously been given the green light to invest in overseas markets using its own foreign exchange-denominated capital.

China's foreign exchange reserves have soared in recent years as the central bank, trying to hold down the value of the yuan, has bought dollars generated by China's trade surplus and foreign investment inflows.

The reserves reached a record 5.1 billion in the first quarter of this year. Analysts have said the QDII programme is part of Beijing's efforts to manage its huge reserves.

REUTERS PV GC1738