Cover Story: China’s Challenge to Fill the Multibillion-Dollar Insurance Black Hole

Nearly eight years after China launched a sweeping crackdown on aggressive practices among insurers, efforts to dismantle risks in troubled institutions are still far from over, leaving by some estimates 1 trillion yuan in problematic assets.

Targeting insurers backed by private conglomerates which leveraged their sprawling reach in the finance sector to fuel risky expansion, the crackdown has led to the downfall of freewheeling giants like Anbang Insurance Group Co. Ltd. and Tomorrow Holding Co. Ltd.