The former head of China's insurance regulatory body has been sentenced by the government to 11 years in jail. The former chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), Xiang Junbo, was found guilty of accepting bribes from executives and privately held companies during his tenure as a government employee.  

Xiang was the chairman of the CIRC before it was merged with China's banking supervisory body. Prior to being appointed chairman, Xiang had worked as the deputy governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank.

The Changzhou Intermediate Court in Jiangsu province issued the sentence against Xiang along with a 1.5 million yuan fine and an order to authorities to immediately seize all of his accounts and assets. Xiang was removed from his position in the CIRC back in April, which was then followed by a formal investigation into his alleged bribery activities.

The findings of the investigation revealed that Xiang had accepted a total of around 18.62 million yuan or roughly $2.63 million in bribes during his various tenures with the government between 2005 and 2017. He reportedly received bribes while he was the PBOC's deputy governor, the head of the Agricultural Bank of China, and when he served as the CIRC's chairman.

The investigation into the official's practices was part of China's much-wider crackdown on corruption within the financial services industry back in 2017. The initiative had resulted in a probe into corporate raise funded by insurance company-provided high-yield products. Under Xiang's leadership, the CIRC extended the leeway for privately owned insurers in how they managed their funds and investments. Xiang had pushed for the extension of the limit on equity investments made by insurers to around 40 percent.

During the crackdown, several companies and executives were placed under investigation. The president of the People's Insurance Co Group, Wang Yincheng, was placed under investigation for alleged corruption. Insurance companies such as Foresea Life Insurance, Huaxia Life Insurance, Evergrande Life Insurance, and Sino Life Insurance were also investigated and slapped with penalties.

Huaxia Life founder Xiao Jianhua is believed to be assisting authorities in the investigations. Several executives are now being probed for possible bribery and stock market manipulation charges. Sino Life Insurance founder Zhang Jun had reportedly also been arrested and is under investigation.

Foresea Life and Evergrande Life have since halted their online insurance businesses after authorities found that their capital adequacy and solvency ratios had fallen very close to the allowable limits, endangering their policyholder's accounts.