Financial institutions, including banks, insurers, securities brokerage and trust companies will compete for the second batch of corporate annuity licenses, according to China Business Post.

On May 15, Taikang Life Insurance Company got the nod from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) to make preparations for setting up a pension insurance company. The new company will be registered in Beijing with a registered capital of 200 million yuan (US$25.87 million).

Changjiang Pension Insurance Company, another specialized pension insurer in China, which was approved by the CIRC last month, began operations on May 19.

The CIRC's move to approve more specialized pension insurers will allow more financial institutions to get corporate annuity licenses.

The regulatory body also had started checking the applications of the second group of corporate annuity management institutions as of May 21 and will announce the approved list in August.

Statistics from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security show that the corporate annuity fund, which covers 9.64 million people, had 91 billion yuan in assets at the end of 2006, but only 15.8 billion yuan was handled by professional investors, such as endowment insurance companies, commercial banks and other qualified investors.

By the end of this year, after a further 75 billion yuan (US$9.62 billion) has been transferred to qualified investors, the whole fund will be in their hands.

Currently, a total of 30 financial institutions, including insurers, securities brokerage and trust companies, are able to act as pension fund custodians, trustees, asset managers and bookkeepers in corporate annuity management. But the number is not enough for the 75 billion yuan in assets and expanding corporate annuity markets.

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