(Yicai) Jan. 11 -- Chinese insurance companies have a much greater need for financing to meet stricter solvency rules, with the total amount raised last year surging about 290 percent.

They raised CNY211 billion (USD29.7 billion) in 2023, versus CNY54 billion (USD7.6 billion) the year before, Yicai calculated based on data released by the National Administration of Financial Regulation.

The authorities approved 44 bond and share sales by insurers. Twenty-one bond sales brought in CNY171 billion, while share issues raised CNY40 billion. Some firms, such as China Pacific Property Insurance, used both means to supplement their capital. The Shanghai-based company sold CNY10 billion of bonds and boosted its share capital by CNY478 million (USD67.1 million).

At the end of 2021, the NAFR, previously know as the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, updated the solvency rules for insurers, proposing stricter standards for the recognition of their capital. The new regulations came into effect in 2022 with a three-year transitional period.

As that period will end next year at the latest, many insurers are expected to go on issuing bonds to ease capital pressures, according to Guotai Junan Securities.

Under the new rules, solvency indicators have fallen. The average core solvency adequacy ratio among insurance companies was 126 percent and the comprehensive solvency adequacy ratio was 194 percent as of Sept. 31, down from 220 percent and 232 percent, respectively, at the end of 2021, according to data from the NAFR.

The solvency adequacy ratio refers to the share of an insurer's capital to the minimum capital required by the regulator. The core ratio must not be lower than 60, and the comprehensive ratio must be at least 120 percent, according to regulations.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev