HeTai Life Insurance Co. Ltd. has received approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission to be formally incorporated.

The regulator has given HeTai the green light to sell annuity, life, health, casualty, participating and universal life insurance policies. The company will be able to request permission to set up branches outside Shandong province two years after the start of operations.

The Chinese life insurer will deploy an online business model while developing its offline insurance business in Shandong province, according to the company's website.

HeTai Life, which is based in Jinan, Shandong province in eastern China and has registered capital of 1.5 billion Chinese yuan, was founded by Internet company Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s wholly owned subsidiary Beijing BIZCOM Technology Co. Ltd., CITIC Guoan Co Ltd, Munsun Capital Group Ltd. and five other companies.

Tencent also holds shares in China's first online insurer, Zhong An Online P&C Insurance Co. Ltd., and AVIVA Life Insurance Co. Ltd., a Hong Kong-based company that is developing digital insurance.