China Insurance Regulatory Commission loosened the restriction on how much a stake an insurer can invest in banks, the regulator said in a statement late on Tuesday.

In the regulation released in 2006, CIRC stipulated that insurers' stake investments in banks should be less than 3 percent of their total assets by the end of the previous year. That regulation has now been abolished, the regulator said in the statement.

Currently, the ceiling for insurers' single stake investments is 30 percent.

huyuanyuan@chinadaily.com.cn