Quick Take: HNA’s Bohai Life, Four Others Banned From Borrowing From Related Firms for Six Months

Five insurers, including HNA Group Co.’s Bohai Life Insurance Co., are barred from borrowing or seeking other financial support from their related companies over the next six months, the regulator said.

After several on-site inspections earlier this year, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission found that Bohai Life, as well as four other insurers — Junkang Life Insurance Co. Ltd., Pearl River Life Insurance Co. Ltd., Shanghai Life Insurance Co. Ltd. and Sunshine Life Insurance Co. Ltd. — have problematic practices in managing their shareholding structures, internal controls and murkily connected transactions.

According to the regulator, five of Tianjin-based Bohai Life’s shareholders did not submit written notice to the insurer when they pledged their shares as collateral. Also, Bohai has registered incomplete information on its related companies, and conducted improper management over the transactions with them.

Bohai Life will not be allowed to directly or indirectly borrow or seek other forms of financial support from HNA and its related companies for six months, the CIRC said Wednesday. The regulator also blocked the insurer from extending the maturity of financial products it has traded with HNA.

The regulator said it gave Bohai Life three months to rectify these problems, and will decide later if it needs to take further regulatory measures.

The regulator also said it imposed similar sanctions on Junkang Life, Shanghai Life, Sunshine Life and Pearl River Life.

Contact reporter Dong Tongjian (tongjiandong@caixin.com)