China has taken a move that effectively allows insurance firms to make longer-term investments in shares, adding to a drumbeat of support measures to revitalize the country’s stock market.
The Ministry of Finance will from now on evaluate insurers’ return on net assets based on a combination of a three-year cycle and a one-year time frame, instead of just the latter previously, it said in a notice released Monday. The ministry said the change is aimed at guiding long-term capital to play a stronger role of market “stabilizer”.
The move is the latest in a series of steps taken by policymakers to prop up a stock market that has become one of the world’s worst performers this year. The onshore CSI 300 index fell again Tuesday morning, ending a five-day winning streak after fresh weakness in manufacturing and services activity revived concerns about China’s economy.
The ministry’s announcement could drive about 2.6 trillion yuan ($355 billion) into stocks and equity mutual funds, if insurers raise their equity investment by three percentage points and deploy 16% for such investment, according to estimates from China Merchants Fund Management Co.
