Sino Life Insurance had become the first mainland insurer to win regulatory approval to invest part of its assets in the Hong Kong stock market after new rules announced last month, the China Business News said on Monday.

Sino Life won approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) to invest in H shares and red-chips, the semi-official newspaper said.

Sino Life, a relatively small insurer set up in 2001 in Shanghai, had total assets of 10 billion yuan at the end of May, according to the newspaper.

The CIRC announced in late July that Beijing would allow Chinese insurers to invest 15 per cent of their assets abroad under long-awaited regulations marking the latest relaxation of China's capital controls.

The rules fleshed out a decision taken in April last year by the State Council, China's cabinet, to let financial institutions invest some of their clients' funds abroad under the landmark Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) scheme.

Other regulators earlier this year published detailed QDII rules for banks, brokerages and asset management companies.

The assets of all insurance firms operating in China were 2.53 trillion yuan at the end of June, potentially making 380 billion yuan available for overseas investment.

However, the actual totals will be determined by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the currency regulator, which will allot quotas to individual insurers - as it does for banks and fund managers.

A few insurers were already permitted to invest in overseas stocks before the new regulations, but only using foreign exchange raised from initial public offerings overseas.