China insurance regulator bars Evergrande Life from stock market investment

BEIJING, Dec 9 (Reuters) - China's insurance regulator said late on Friday it has suspended Evergrande Life, the insurance arm of China Evergrande Group, from conducting stock market investment due to its speculative, frequent, high-volume trading. The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) required Evergrande Life to properly address the problem by improving its stock market investment practices and strengthening its risk management, the regulator said in an online statement. The move comes amid a wider, intensifying regulatory crackdown on risky activities by some aggressive players in the insurance sector, particularly those engaging in financial market speculation. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange said in November that it has taken measures against accounts related to conglomerate China Evergrande Group regarding abnormal trading activities in stocks including property giant Vanke. CIRC said earlier this week it would soon send two inspection teams to check compliance at Evergrande Life and Foresea Life, a unit of financial conglomerate Baoneng Group. (Reporting By Shu Zhang and Matthew Miller; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri)