(Yicai) Feb. 27 -- China will lower the requirements for financial institutions from Hong Kong and Macao to invest in Chinese mainland insurance companies to deepen opening-up in the financial sector.

Hong Kong and Macao financial institutions will no longer be required to have assets of at least USD2 billion at the end of the previous year to invest in insurance companies from the Chinese mainland from March 1, the National Financial Regulatory Administration announced yesterday.

The asset requirement threshold was one of the four requirements for offshore financial institutions planning to invest in mainland insurers that China introduced in April 2018. The three others are being profitable for three consecutive accounting years, keeping an A-grade or above long-term credit rating from international rating agencies for three years, and complying with local financial regulations.

The move is a significant step in expanding China’s financial opening-up and aims to help mainland insurance companies attract high-quality investors from Hong Kong and Macao, strengthen their capital base, and optimize their equity structure, as well as deepen cooperation between the mainland and the two special administrative regions, the NFRA noted.

The financial regulator will further expand the business scope of the mainland branches of Hong Kong and Macao banks, including exploring bank card services, Li Yunze, head of the NFRA, said at the 17th Asian Financial Forum held in Hong Kong on Jan. 24.

Moreover, Li mentioned that the NFRA was studying policies to enhance insurance services in the Hong Kong-Macao-Greater Bay Area, such as lowering entry barriers for financial institutions from the SARs to invest in mainland insurers and supporting Chinese lenders and insurance firms in setting up regional headquarters in Hong Kong.

The NFRA will go on promoting higher-level opening-up between the mainland and the two SARs through the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, supporting Hong Kong in leveraging its unique advantages under the One Country, Two System principle to continuously improve its role as an international financial hub, Li pointed out.

Editor: Futura Costaglione