Chinese automaker BYD has received approval from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) to acquire insurer Yi’an. The troubled insurance company was sequestrated by regulators two years ago.
Founded in 2016, Yi’an went bankrupt and came under the control of the CBIRC in 2020. Since then the regulator has been publicly seeking strategic investors.
BYD established an insurance brokerage in March last year, but that the company has taken now over Yi’an suggests that BYD will follow Tesla by becoming self-insuring.
The EV-specific insurance market is expanding fast in China with several listed insurance companies generating significant revenue.
In 2022, China Pacific Insurance underwrote 4.7 million new energy vehicles, an increase of 59.6 percent year on year. Premium growth for EV insurance in 2022 exceeded 90 percent.
