The Chinese Government announced that it will raise foreign ownership limits in insurance companies to 51% in three years' time. Full foreign ownership of insurers in China will be allowed after five years, the Government's official announced.

Foreign holdings in insurance ventures are capped at 50% at present in general. The exceptions are AIA, Allianz and Manulife - AIA has a 100%-owned subsidiary and the other two have a 51% stake in their joint ventures, asiainsurancereview.com reports.

Currently, there are 57 foreign insurance companies from 16 countries operating in China. For the first half of 2017, foreign owned insurance ventures in China had a 6% share of the life market and a 2% share of nonlife business.

Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao also announced that the government will relax or eliminate ownership limits in the commercial banking, securities, futures, and asset management sectors.