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There has been some speculation about the types of products that will be offered through the exchange and who will able to participate in it, but since there are no details at all about the exchange, including the fact that the CIRC did not provide a time line on when it expect to open the exchange, there is no way of knowing what to expect of a the potential Shanghai insurance exchange. However, the speculation is interesting because by considering opening an exchange it sounds like the CIRC could be open to more innovation in the Chinese insurance market, and some individuals have speculated that the CIRC is considering making the exchange more of a place where property and casualty policies, group life insurance policies, and reinsurance could be quickly and easily bought and sold, instead of a place where hard to place risks and excess or surplus lines are placed. In addition, if reinsurance if going to be available through the exchange it raises the possibility that foreign insurers and reinsurers will be able to be involved in the exchange in some capacity because China's WTO commitments state that China allow international insurers to write reinsurance business from outside of China.

If you would like more information about what a insurance exchange could potentially mean for the Chinese insurance market please contact us.

The information contained in this article is available at: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/business/2011-03/07/content_12130923.htm

In this report, the Shanxi CIRC noted that it created a website where insurance purchasers and providers could directly ask it questions about its rules for the insurance industry. It believes that this this direct line of communication with the insurance regulator has helped promote consumers and insurance providers understanding of China's requirements for the insurance industry. Moreover, the Shanxi CIRC implemented policies to help promote electronic insurance policy premium payments to help reduce policyholders and insurers' ability to use illegally gotten funds to purchase insurance products and to prevent misallocation of insurance premium payments. Furthermore, the Shanxi CIRC noted the success of the online auto insurance information platform it has created that is allowing the Shanxi auto insurance market to become more efficient. Finally, the Shanxi CIRC noted that it felt like its effort to promote arbitration for auto insurance claims because of the experiment it has been running in Taiyuan city. This experiment created a arbitration commission for auto insurance disputes that the Shanxi CIRC believes has helped provide an efficient low cost way to resolve auto insurance claims.

Overall, the Shanxi Provincial CIRC considers this transparency project to be a great success, and therefore, there is a possibility that other provincial level insurance regulatory authorities or even the central government insurance regulatory authority could also implement similar projects to enhance the stability and growth in that province.

If you would like more details on the Shanxi CIRC's transparency project please contact us. Or if you would like more information on some of the policies that the Shanxi CIRC implemented that required insurers providers in Shanxi to adjust their internal policies or disclose additional information please contact us.

The information contained in this article is available at: http://www.sinoins.com/news/101215/55637.html