Hainan Haiqi Transportation Group and Chengdu Haoneng Technology, both of which are listed on the Shanghai stock exchange, yesterday announced separately that they plan to establish insurance companies, to be called Haijin Property Insurance and Western Agricultural Insurance respectively.

Haiqi Group said that it hopes to enter the insurance sector because it wishes to optimise the group operating structure and diversify into a new sector. The group plans to invest CNY150m ($22.4m) in Haijin Property, which would give it a 10% stake in the proposed insurer.

According to the Haiqi Group statement, the proposed establishment of Haijin Property is to be led by Hainan Development Holdings, which is the largest investment holding company in Hainan Province. Apart from Hainan Development Holdings and Haiqi Group, the insurer will have five other shareholders. With a proposed registered capital of CNY1.5bn, Haijin Property will be registered in Haikou, the capital of Hainan Province.

Coincidentally, Chengdu Haoneng Technology also announced yesterday that it plans to invest CNY40m in a new insurer, to be called Western Agricultural Insurance. Haoneng's stake in the insurance venture will be 4%.

Western Agricultural Insurance is to have a registered capital of CNY1bn. Its biggest shareholder, with a 21% stake, will be Sichuan Financial Holding Group. The new insurer will have a total of 18 shareholders, which are large and medium-sized enterprises located inside and outside Sichuan Province. The place of registration is Xichang City, Liangshan Prefecture in Sichuan.

It is unclear at present when, or even whether, the two proposed insurers will be approved by the CBIRC. The last licence for a direct insurance company was granted by the authorities in /february 2017, as a crackdown was intensified on malpractices in the insurance industry.