Insurance regulator to gain increased power

The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) will launch an electronic platform using big data technology and cloud computing to monitor and regulate the country's insurance agencies, the regulator said on Wednesday.

The system will empower the commission in its crackdown on illegal activities such as misleading sales and illegal financing by insurance agents which have mushroomed in recent years.

Development of the system will start by the end of this year or early next, and will take three years to complete, Zhao Wei, a CIRC official in charge of regulation of insurance intermediary sector said.

In the initial phase, the commission will require insurers and their agents to upload business and financial data, Zhao said.

The insurance regulator has completed its latest round of cleaning up and consolidating the country's insurance sector which began last April.

It has fined 359 agents a total of 28 million yuan ($4.4 million) for engaging in illegal activities, according to the regulator.

Total premiums received by insurance agencies in China stood at 1.6 trillion yuan last year, up 16.7 percent from the previous year, the regulator said.