China will allow the nation's banks to buy equity stakes in insurance companies to help expand their sources of revenue and reduce risk, the banking and insurance regulators said.

Cooperation between banks and insurers "will improve and strengthen financial supervision," help "prevent and absorb financial risk and increase the efficiency of cross-industry supervision," the China Banking Regulatory Commission and China Insurance Regulatory Commission said in a joint statement on their websites yesterday.

(Shanghai Daily January 23, 2008)