BoC Insurance becomes subsidiary of BoC

BEIJING, Aug 08, 2010 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Bank of China Group Insurance Co., Ltd. was approved to transfer its 100 percent stake in the BoC Insurance to the Bank of China (BoC, 03988.HK; 601988.SH), according to China Insurance Regulatory Commission.

Now, the BoC becomes the sole shareholder of the BoC Insurance.

Under the previous policy, the BoC was not allowed to directly control an insurance company. Thus it indirectly entered the Chinese Mainland insurance market via its Hong Kong-based subsidiary Bank of China Group Insurance.

The BoC Insurance, founded in 2005, was a nationwide property insurance company on the Chinese Mainland, with branches in 19 provinces and municipalities around China.

In the first half of this year, the BoC Insurance realized premiums of 1.198 billion yuan. (Edited by Jiang Yujuan, [email protected])