China Seeks Public Comment on Major Revision to Insurance Law

China's National Financial Regulatory Administration has opened public consultation on a draft revision to the Insurance Law, with feedback due by October 3, 2026. Jiemian News reported that the draft is the first major overhaul of the law in 11 years and would expand the statute to 8 chapters and 214 articles. The draft would bring insurers' shareholders and actual controllers under supervision, strengthen fit-and-proper checks for major shareholders, and add rules on capital contributions, related-party transactions, disclosure, and prohibited interference in operations. It also tightens prudential supervision, including governance, risk management, internal controls, capital management and solvency rules, while broadening permitted uses of insurance funds to include equity, asset management and asset-backed securities products, gold and other commodities, futures and derivatives. According to data cited by the regulator, insurers' investment balance reached 40.8 trillion yuan in the second quarter of 2026. The revision also seeks to improve early intervention and resolution tools, clarify the role of takeover teams, and refine the insurance protection fund system. It says the fund would provide capped rescue support, with any amount above the cap to be recovered from the liquidation assets of an insurer that is revoked or declared bankrupt. The draft would also strengthen consumer protection, including personal information safeguards and bans on misleading sales, and raise penalties by increasing many fines to as much as 10 times illegal gains from the current five times.