"China Instructs State Insurers to Review Exposure to Russia, Ukraine" 4 March 2022

China has told top state insurers to perform urgent checks on their exposure to Russia and Ukraine, as concerns swirl about the damage to the two economies amid intense fighting, according to two sources and documents seen by Reuters.

The move was also triggered by sweeping sanctions that have been imposed by many countries on Russia, the sources said, after its invasion of Ukraine last Thursday in the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two.

At least two large state-owned insurance firms have been asked by regulators to conduct internal checks on their business and investment portfolios’ exposure to Russia and Ukraine, said the sources.

The development underscores Beijing’s efforts behind the scenes to minimize risk to its own institutions even as it continues to maintain strong trade ties with Russia in the face of crippling sanctions imposed by the West on that country. [...]

One of the regulatory authorities has asked a state-owned insurer to “urgently” check and report projects “involved in dealings between Ukraine and Russia,” one of the sources with knowledge of the directive told Reuters. [...]

The insurer has been asked to report its business and investments in Russia and also in Belarus, gauge the impact of the sanctions, and submit their contingency plan in response to those developments, as per the source and the documents. [...]