中國打擊保險公司高槓杆收購

Chinese regulators have intensified their crackdown on insurers’ use of high-risk, high-return products, which are often used to fund corporate deals.

中國監管機構加大了對保險公司利用高風險高回報產品的打擊，這些產品往往被用於企業交易。

The clampdown comes days after the country’s securities regulator separately denounced companies making highly leveraged takeovers as “barbarians” and “robbers”.

最新打擊措施出臺幾天前，中國證券監管機構還譴責發起高槓杆收購的公司是“野蠻人”和“強盜”。

The China Insurance Regulatory Commission on Tuesday said it had barred Foresea Life Insurance from issuing “universal insurance” products.

中國保險監督管理委員會(CIRC)週二表示，其已對前海人壽(Foresea Life Insurance)採取停止其開展“萬能險”新業務的監管措施。

Foresea is a unit of privately held insurance conglomerate Baoneng, which has been locked in a hostile takeover of property developer China Vanke for a year and has used the proceeds from sales of such products to finance its pursuit.

前海人壽是私有保險集團寶能(Baoneng)旗下的公司。寶能投入對房地產開發商萬科(China Vanke)的敵意收購已有一年，並利用了此類產品的銷售所得爲這項努力提供資金。

The CIRC also said it had halted online sales of universal insurance products by six major insurers, including Evergrande, which is competing with Baoneng to take over Vanke.

中國保監會還表示，已叫停6家大型保險公司的互聯網渠道萬能險產品銷售，包括與寶能競購萬科的恆大人壽(Evergrande)。

Regulators have become increasingly wary as Chinese insurers have made a series of highly leveraged acquisitions in recent years. Such concerns were believed to be part of the reason Anbang Insurance withdrew its $14bn bid for Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

隨着中國各保險公司近年來進行了一系列高槓杆收購，監管機構已變得越來越警惕。他們的擔憂被認爲是安邦保險(Anbang Insurance)取消對喜達屋酒店及度假村(Starwood Hotels & Resorts) 140億美元收購的部分原因。

“If you use funds from questionable sources to undertake highly leveraged buyouts, and turn from an [industry] stranger to a barbarian, and finally become a robber, this is not acceptable,” said Liu Shiyu, head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, in a weekend broadside.

中國證券監督管理委員會(CSRC)主席劉士餘週末發出猛烈抨擊，他說：“你用來路不當的錢從事槓桿收購，行爲上從門口的陌生人變成野蠻人，最後變成行業的強盜，這是不可以的。”

Earlier this year, the chair of the CIRC warned against insurers, awash with cash from universal insurance premiums, becoming “automatic teller machines” for takeovers.

今年早些時候，中國保監會主席曾警告由於萬能險保費收入而資金充裕的保險商，不要成爲收購的“提款機”。

“Insurers use the premiums from universal insurance products to buy stocks, which they then use as collateral to buy more stocks, thus leveraging up and increasing their returns,” said Zhou Hao of Commerzbank. “It could create a vicious spiral if stock prices fall.”

“保險公司利用萬能險產品的保費來買入股票，然後將這些股票用作抵押品，買入更多股票，從而提升槓桿，提高他們的回報，”德國商業銀行(Commerzbank)的周昊表示，“如果股票價格下跌，就可能形成一個惡性循環。”

Universal insurance products combine an insurance component — a death benefit — with a high-return investment in a variety of assets including equities and shadow-banking loans. Foresea’s universal insurance products offered returns of between 4 and 8 per cent a year, making them attractive short-term investments for retail customers.

萬能險產品由一個保險部分（身故保險金）與一個高回報投資部分（包括股票和影子銀行貸款等各類資產）相結合組成。前海的萬能險產品提供每年4%至8%的回報率，使它們成爲對零售客戶有吸引力的短期投資。

Analysts have expressed concerns about the financial risks inherent in this model, in which insurers rely on customers rolling over their short-term plans in order to stay solvent.

分析師們對這一模式固有的財務風險表示擔憂，因爲保險公司依賴客戶滾轉其短期計劃以保持償付能力。

“The aim of tightening regulation is to guide insurers back to making traditional conservative investments, as opposed to acting like aggressive asset managers," said Jonas Short, head of Beijing-based NSBO China, a policy research firm.

“收緊監管的目的是指導保險公司重拾傳統的保守型投資，而不是像激進的資產管理公司那樣操作，”投資銀行藍橡資本(NSBO)北京負責人喬納斯.肖特(Jonas Short)表示。

The sale of universal insurance products surged this year, with as many sold in the first five months as in the whole of last year, according to data collected by FT Confidential Research. Premiums from these products made up over 80 per cent of the insurance industry’s total premium revenue in January through October, according to CIRC data collected by NSBO.

根據英國《金融時報》旗下研究服務部門“投資參考”(FT Confidential Research)收集的數據，今年萬能險產品銷售激增，前5個月就達到去年全年的銷售量。根據NSBO收集的中國保監會數據，來自此類產品的保費收入佔1至10月佔保險業總保費收入的80%以上。

Foresea sold over Rmb70bn ($10bn) worth of universal insurance products in the year to October, making it the country’s fifth-largest seller of such plans.

今年截至10月，前海銷售了超過700億元人民幣（合100億美元）的萬能險產品，成爲此類產品的國內第五大賣家。