China takes over Anbang Insurance, prosecutes ex-chair

Beijing: China took over Anbang Insurance Group for a year on Friday and said its former chairman faces prosecution for “economic crimes” as the government stepped up its battle against corruption and excessive corporate debt. The China Insurance Regulatory Commission said Anbang, which emerged from obscurity in recent years to make a number of high-profile foreign acquisitions, had violated insurance regulations, “severely” impairing its ability to pay back debts. The highly unusual takeover appeared to signal deep official unease with Beijing-based Anbang’s financial stability as well as the government’s resolve in addressing a debt crisis that has spurred warnings of a potential financial contagion in the world’s second-largest economy. The announcement clarified the fate of Anbang’s chairman Wu Xiaohui, who was reported by Chinese media to have been detained last June. The insurance regulator confirmed he was being “prosecuted for economic crimes”. — AFP