In mid-December, Chinese conglomerate Fosun International announced the sale of its casualty insurance unit Ironshore to Liberty Mutual for nearly $3bn. That same week, a team of Anbang Insurance staffers flew to Seoul from the group’s Fifth Avenue building in New York, in connection with its planned purchase of two insurance companies in South Korea.

These two insurers spent much of last year scouring the world for potential targets and were among the most aggressive purchasers. They provided rescue capital to troubled financial firms in Europe and scooped up real estate and other investments in the US and Asia. They were among the contributors to the $225bn in Chinese offshore acquisitions announced last year, according to data from Dealogic.

But a combination of strictures from mainland regulators and internal pressures from within for many firms, including Anbang and Fosun, may mean that China’s voracious appetite for overseas assets is about to be curbed.