CRI听力:Insurance Supervision

The guiding principles and plans formulated by the 4th National Financial Work Conference are to perfect capital and insurance markets, and develop financial markets in a coordinated manner. Experts believe that the development of the insurance market is currently lagging behind that of the banking and securities businesses.

Zheng Wei is a financial expert with the Institute of Economics at Peking University.

"Our previous research shows that the insurance industry is not a perfect market economy. So, I think it's of great significance that the central government perfects the market economy by promoting the insurance industry."

From the perspective of supervisory institutions, the insurance industry is lagging behind due to the fact that its service capacity cannot satisfy the social need. Chen Jie, chief of the Chongqing Bureau of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, explains.

"The insurance industry has witnessed rapid development in recent years, but it doesn't perform well in serving, ensuring and supporting national economic and social development. Neither can it meet the financial demands of the Chinese people."

Ding Xiaoyan, chief of the Beijing Bureau of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, has this to say.

"As for insurance supervisory departments, we need to urge them to put the concept of service at the top of the agenda, ahead of vicious price competition."

Discussions at the National Financial Work Conference also pointed out that the insurance industry should perfect its regulation of the capacity to provide compensation and of classified supervisory systems. Zheng Wei highlighted the importance of addressing these methods.

"The supervision of compensation capacity is the core of any insurance supervision system. But good insurance companies exist alongside bad ones, and regulation resources are limited. So, classified supervision is the current trend being pursued by many and is common practice."

Ding Xiaoyan says that the Regulatory Commission has decided to put more effort into protecting customers' rights.

"In the future, we shall prioritize the protection of insurance customers. Therefore, it's important to include this within the guiding principles."

Chairman of the China Insurance Commission, Xiang Junbo said in his speech on January 7 that a customer protection mechanism will be established with the joint efforts of insurance supervisory departments, industrial organizations, the market and the public. A unified national complaint hotline and a social supervisory mechanism are also expected to be put into practice.

For CRI, I'm Wangjing.