The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) is an agency of China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 authorized by the State Council

State Council of the People's Republic of China

The State Council of the People's Republic of China , which is largely synonymous with the Central People's Government after 1954, is the chief administrative authority of the People's Republic of China. It is chaired by the Premier and includes the heads of each governmental department and agency...

 to regulate the Chinese insurance

Insurance

In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...

 products and services market and maintain legal and stable operations of insurance industry. It was founded on November 18, 1998, upgraded from a semi-ministerial to a ministerial institution in 2003, and currently has 31 local offices in every province except Taiwan.

Functions

The main functions of the CIRC are:

#	Functions	Descriptions
1.	Formulate policies for developing the insurance industry	Create laws, rules and regulations to supervise the industry
2.	Scrutinise and approval of insurance companies, subsidiaries, insurance holding companies	Approve and examine incorporation of insurance entities, merge, split, change or dissolve
3.	Examine and approve the qualifications of managers of various insurance companies	Accreditation, regulate the hiring of senior managers in various insurance companies
4.	Pricing regulation, insurance schemes	Regulate premiums, new insurance products and categories
5.	Supervise the financial health of insurance companies	Ensure payment ability, insurance deposit, insurance guarantee fund
6.	Supervise policy-oriented insurance and compulsory insurance	Regulate self-insurance and mutual insurance, insurance trade associations
7.	Supervise fair competition in industry	To investigate and punish unfair competition and illegal conduct, non compliance of registration
8.	Supervise insurance companies with overseas operations	Regulate overseas operations of domestic insurance firms
9.	Create framework for insurance industry for information, risk, forecast, supervision.	Create standards for risk, forecast, profitability and report to the People's Bank of China.
10.	To undertake other jobs delegated by the State Council	Subordinate to State Council directives

Structure

Internal Setup of the CIRC is:

• General Office
• Development and Reform Department
• Finance and Accounting Department
• Property Insurance Regulatory Department
• Personal Insurance Regulatory Department
• Insurance Intermediaries Regulatory Department
• Insurance Fund Management Regulatory Department
• International Department
• Legal Affairs Department
• Statistics and IT Department
• Local Offices Administration Department
• Personnel and Education Department
• Disciplinary Inspection Department

Funds

In September 2008, CIRC set up a nonprofit state-owned corporation

Corporation

A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...

 with a registered capital of 100 million yuan

Renminbi

The Renminbi is the official currency of the People's Republic of China . Renminbi is legal tender in mainland China, but not in Hong Kong or Macau. It is issued by the People's Bank of China, the monetary authority of the PRC...

 to manage its insurance protection fund, amounting to at least 7 billion yuan (about US$1 billion). http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/18/content_10072833.htm

External links

• China Insurance Regulatory Commission Official site