The branches and foreign exchange administration departments of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) in all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and the SAFE branches in Shenzhen, Dalian, Qingdao, Xiamen, and Ningbo, the insurance group (holding) companies, the insurance companies,  the insurance asset management companies and the designated China-funded foreign exchange banks:

To further advance administration streamlining and power delegation, and improve foreign exchange administration for the insurance business,, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) has formulated the Guidelines for Foreign Exchange Administration for Insurance Business (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines, see the Appendix), which shall come into force on March 1, 2015. These documents are hereby circulated to you for execution and relevant issues are notified as follows:

I. Connection after delegation of the administrative permission verification power. The Foreign Exchange Business License previously granted can be used during its validity by an insurance company or an insurance group (holding) company until its expiry. In case that the continuous operation of insurance business in foreign exchange is required, the qualification for foreign exchange business shall be applied for in accordance with the Guidelines at least 30 working days prior to the expiry of the Foreign Exchange Business License; in case that the continuous operation of foreign exchange insurance business is not required after the expiry, the Foreign Exchange Business License shall be presented to the local SAFE branch or foreign exchange administration department, to automatically terminate the foreign exchange insurance business.

II. An insurance company, insurance group (holding) company and insurance asset management company, which has not registered for direct foreign exchange investment prior to this Circular, shall promptly undergo foreign exchange registration procedures with its local SAFE branch or the processingbank in accordance with relevant provisions.

III. For ex post administration and monitoring, all the SAFE branches and foreign exchange administration departments shall conducta comprehensive checkupand verification of the foreign exchange accounts of the insurance companies, the insurance group (holding) companies and the insurance asset management companies within their jurisdiction, so as to ensure the accurate reporting of the account information as required.

IV. Upon receipt of this circular, the SAFE branches and foreign exchange administration departments should immediately forward it to the central sub-branches (sub-branches), local commercial banks, and foreign banks within their respective jurisdiction, while the insurance companies and the designated China-funded foreign exchange banks should promptly forward it to their branches.

V. After coming into effect, this Circular shall prevail where there is a discrepancy with previous regulations.

If you have any questions during the execution of these documents, please promptly contact the Current Account Management Department of the SAFE.