China’s insurance regulator has taken a tough stance towards insurance firms that violate industry rules, with close to US$10 million in fines meted out this year.
Over 60 insurers and insurance intermediaries have been penalised a total of RMB63 million (US$9.8 million) from January to April 2018, according to a report by state media outfit Xinhua.
Among the irregularities punished by regulators were misleading sales pitches and fake materials, the report said. The property insurance segment was plagued with fiscal data fraud, in particular, while motor and agricultural insurance were the segments with the most violations.
In March, Beijing merged its banking and insurance regulators in order to intensify its clean-up of risks in the financial sector, creating the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC). In the first quarter of 2018, a total of 646 banks and insurers were sanctioned for irregularities such as improper corporate governance and violations of macro-regulation policies, according to the CBIRC.
These infractions led to fines and confiscation orders reaching almost RMB1.2 billion (US$187 million).
