China will allow the nation's banks to buy equity stakes in
insurance companies to help expand their sources of revenue and
reduce risk, the banking and insurance regulators said.
Cooperation between banks and insurers "will improve and
strengthen financial supervision," help "prevent and absorb
financial risk and increase the efficiency of cross-industry
supervision," the China Banking Regulatory Commission and China
Insurance Regulatory Commission said in a joint statement on their
websites yesterday.
(Shanghai Daily January 23, 2008)