The authorities have also asked the company to bring the proceeds of the sales back to China, reports Bloomberg, citing people who asked not to be identified.
Anbang is a holding company for subsidiaries that deal primarily with insurance, banking and financial services.
Among its overseas assets, Anbang owns Dutch insurer Vivat, South Korea’s Tongyang Life, and Iowa-based Fidelity & Guaranty Life. In April 2016, the group also acquired Allianz’s South Korea operations.
Other holdings include the Waldorf Astoria New York hotel plus a further 16 landmark US hotels.
The company had also recently been in talks with a real estate company part-owned by US president Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser, Jared Kushner, reports the BBC.
The company’s former chairman, Wu Xiaohui, was arrested on 8 June 2017 as part of an investigation into economic crimes.
Sector-wide crackdown
The request to Anbang coincides with a ramp up in the supervision of the management of asset liability by insurers by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC).
Citing an online statement from the CIRC, newswire Reuters reported that the Chinese insurance sector is facing increasing difficulties in matching assets and liabilities due to “major conflicts” between highly volatile investment income and fixed liability cost.
In particular, some insurance companies that lack effective corporate governance have adopted aggressive operational and investment strategies, causing a huge risk exposure and liquidity issue, the CIRC said.
In recent years, around 20 Chinese insurers have taken sizable stakes in listed companies, funded by issuing high-yield, short-term universal life insurance and other investment products.
“Asset liability management is a fundamental ability and the core competitiveness for insurance companies, especially for life insurance companies,” the regulator said in an online Q&A statement.
The CIRC has set up a committee to supervise insurers’ asset liability management and is drafting additional rules to be put in place by the beginning of 2018.
