Shanghai Regulator Issues 17 Measures to Upgrade Technology Finance, Insurance Sector

The Shanghai Financial Regulatory Bureau on September 14, 2026 issued the Opinions on Promoting the Quality and Efficiency Improvement of Technology Finance in Shanghai's Banking and Insurance Sectors, setting out 17 measures in four areas covering specialized technology finance capabilities, product and service systems, ecosystem mechanisms, and risk prevention and control. The measures aim to promote a virtuous cycle among technology, industry, and finance and to support the development of the Shanghai (Yangtze River Delta) international science and technology innovation center. For the insurance sector, the Opinions set systematic requirements: on the liability side, insurers are required to accelerate the construction of an insurance product and service system covering the entire chain of technology innovation, strengthen research on the application of M&A insurance in the technology field, and explore pilot programs in pioneering industries; on the asset side, insurance funds are guided to increase their capital contributions to venture capital, equity, and M&A funds.

The Opinions require accelerating the construction of an insurance product and service system covering the entire chain of technology innovation. Focusing on key links such as technology talent innovation and entrepreneurship, research and development by technology enterprises, commercialization of results, application and promotion, and the use and protection of intellectual property, insurers are to be encouraged to provide innovative products including R&D liability insurance, pilot-testing insurance, equipment loss insurance, intellectual property insurance, and insurance compensating losses in the cost of commercializing scientific and technological achievements. Insurance support is also to be strengthened for first trials and first applications of innovation results, major technological breakthroughs, and technological upgrading and equipment renewal in key fields. In response to the common risk characteristics of small and medium-sized technology enterprises, the Opinions propose standardized, low-premium, basic-coverage inclusive insurance product packages.

In 2024, Shanghai's property insurance industry took the lead in establishing the Shanghai technology insurance working group; the Shanghai Technology Insurance Product Catalogue released the same year formed a matrix of more than 170 products. In June 2025, the Shanghai Financial Regulatory Bureau and the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of Shanghai Technology Insurance, proposing a product matrix covering the entire chain of technology innovation and the full life cycle of technology enterprises. In March 2026, the National Financial Regulatory Administration and other bodies jointly issued Several Opinions on Accelerating the High-Quality Development of Technology Insurance to Strongly Support High-Level Scientific and Technological Self-Reliance, which explicitly supports the development of international science and technology innovation centers such as Shanghai (Yangtze River Delta) into the "first launch site" for technology insurance innovation. In the first half of 2026, technology-activity risk insurance business within Shanghai's jurisdiction recorded insured amounts exceeding RMB 660 billion.

On July 2, 2026, CPIC P&C Shanghai Branch and Shanghai Tongji Science and Technology Park Incubator Co. , Ltd. of Tongji University signed an insurance policy compensating losses in the cost of commercializing scientific and technological achievements, the first such policy for an incubator in Shanghai. China Life P&C Shanghai Branch, focusing on the pilot-testing stage of embodied intelligence, built a pilot-testing insurance system covering the full cycle of R&D, testing, and application. On talent, the Opinions require Shanghai's insurance industry to increase insurance supply for technology innovation talent and related practitioners and to improve the quality and efficiency of insurance protection in health management, elderly care, and professional liability. On mechanisms, the Opinions encourage insurers to establish a fault-tolerance mechanism for technology insurance innovation, appropriately raising the assessment tolerance for the combined ratio and comprehensive cost ratio of innovative insurance products that are in the cultivation stage and lack historical data.

The Opinions separately address M&A insurance, requiring strengthened research on its application in the technology field and exploration of pilot programs in pioneering industries. M&A insurance, formally known as merger and acquisition warranty and indemnity insurance (W&I insurance), is a commercial insurance product designed specifically for M&A transactions. It is divided into buyer-side and seller-side policies and covers liabilities or losses arising from a seller's breach of representations and warranties made during the sale of a business. W&I insurance can prevent a seller's sale proceeds from being frozen in a third-party escrow account and can also provide the buyer with corresponding protection within a certain period after the transaction closes if the seller is unable to pay breach compensation. The Several Measures for Shanghai to Fully Leverage the Direct Financing Function and Further Strengthen Technology Financial Services, released in July 2026, proposed providing good matchmaking services for national-level M&A funds, leveraging the role of Shanghai's state-owned M&A fund matrix, attracting and clustering market-oriented M&A funds, and conducting M&A transactions around the industrial chains of technology enterprises; it also encourages domestic insurers to carry out technical cooperation with overseas institutions and to develop and launch localized M&A insurance products.

Ping An P&C Shanghai Branch disclosed that in 2025 it provided more than USD 1.5 billion in M&A insurance coverage, spanning more than 150 countries worldwide.

The Opinions explicitly require insurers to fulfill their primary responsibility for risk prevention and control, solidly carry out risk management for technology insurance, support insurers in diversifying major technological breakthrough risks through co-insurance and reinsurance, and study and explore special risk transfer tools to guide social capital into risk diversification. The Shanghai Financial Regulatory Bureau said that next it will continue to guide banking and insurance institutions within its jurisdiction to comprehensively improve the quality and efficiency of technology finance, strive to build a multi-tiered and specialized technology finance supply system, continuously optimize the structure of financial services, and keep enhancing the quality and efficiency of financial support for technology innovation and the development of new quality productive forces.