Last year, an additional 100 billion yuan was added to the position, and this low-profile mega-institution can no longer hide.

In this era, different institutions have completely different temperaments.

Some enter the market in a high-profile way, and for every move they almost can’t help but publicly announce it with a big megaphone.

A typical example is the “national team.” When they enter, they buy and send out a message; when they add to positions, they send out a message. When they sell, even if they don’t send messages, the huge block of outstanding orders on the order book is still, in effect, taking the investor’s “clear playbook” to the extreme.

Other institutions are just low-key. Don’t talk about public investment details. While making cautious decisions, it’s best that the market should treat him as if he’s invisible.

For example, the institution below. In the property and casualty insurance industry, where the business model advantage is clearly obvious—holding the largest share of the market and with strong cash flow—yet its investment actions are extremely low-key, fully demonstrating the description of “a giant lurking quietly.”

On the evening of March 26, China’s largest property and casualty insurance group, PICC P&C (China People’s Insurance), released its 2025 annual report, and in the process also revealed a glimpse of this institution’s weighty investment trump card.

Last year’s revenue was impressive

Where does an insurance institution’s investment funds come from?

From premiums!

So, the revenue figures are the most worth looking at in this giant’s annual report.

On March 26, China People’s Insurance disclosed: in 2025, the company achieved total operating revenue of CNY 6690.44 billion, up 7.6%; net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company was CNY 466.46 billion, up 8.8%.

This property and casualty insurance giant achieved premium income of CNY 738.3 billion for the full year, up 6.5%.

Of these, over the past year the growth rate of non-auto commercial lines significantly outpaced that of auto insurance; first-year premium income in life insurance increased year-on-year by 32.4%; and the contribution of the personal lines business segment to incremental premium for the group exceeded 60%.

Evidently, China People’s Insurance had a bountiful year in 2025.

Steady investment returns

China People’s Insurance also “bragged” in this annual report: in 2025 it established a strategic equity portfolio, and its investment returns reached its best level in history.

The annual report shows: in 2025, China People’s Insurance achieved total investment returns of CNY 923.23 billion, up 12.4%; total investment return rate was 5.7%, staying relatively stable.

China People’s Insurance disclosed: the company fully implemented requirements for medium- to long-term funds to enter the market, actively participated in pilot reforms for long-term insurance fund investments, and continued to optimize the structure of secondary equity investments.

One sentence interpretation: I have money, I can make money, and I’ll spend even more to invest in stocks.

Where does the money go?

So how does this giant invest?

The institution stated: using asset securitization business as a breakthrough, it will step up its transformation into alternative investments and innovation efforts. In 2025, PICC Group’s issuance scale of REITs among institutional investors ranked first among insurance peers.

China People’s Insurance disclosed specific data on its investment assets, covering major asset categories such as fixed-income and equity assets.

Among them, the year-on-year change in the scale of direct stock investments is very significant. (See the chart below)

The scale of stock investments surged from CNY 60.249 billion at the end of 2024 to CNY 166.235 billion at the end of 2025, an increase of CNY 105.986 billion. Its share in total investment assets also rose from 3.7% to 8.7%.

This is not just making money from existing holdings. It’s also a real, tangible increase in positions.

“Strategic equity portfolio” pioneered

There’s another detail in the annual report: China People’s Insurance, in its wording in this annual report, mentions the strategic equity portfolio. Specifically, the situation is as follows:

“Regarding equity investments, we firmly implement requirements for medium- to long-term funds to enter the market, leverage insurance funds’ advantage as patient capital, and steadily increase the proportion of secondary equities. We strengthen an absolute return orientation, optimize the structure of equity asset holdings, innovatively establish a strategic equity investment portfolio focused on long-term investment, and increase the size of investments in other equity instruments that align with the value investment理念 of insurance funds, enhancing the long-term stability of investment performance under the new accounting standards.”

Among them, “innovatively establishing a strategic equity investment portfolio focused on long-term investment” is arguably mentioned for the first time, echoing the above-mentioned data on the stock direct investment scale’s net increase of over CNY 100 billion.

However, regarding further operations related to the above strategic equity investment portfolio, the annual report does not disclose any additional information.

Asset scale approaches 2 trillion yuan

As of December 31, 2025, PICC Asset Management’s asset management scale was CNY 1.98 trillion; operating revenue was CNY 1.760 billion, and net profit was CNY 688.9 million.

Of these, by actively participating in pilot programs for long-term insurance fund investments, PICC Qiyuan Huizhong private securities investment fund has been officially operational, safeguarding the long-term stable development of the capital market through concrete actions.

Like PICC Qiyuan and Honghu Fund (a private placement formed by the joint venture of China Life and New China Life), both are important attempts by large insurance capital to invest in the secondary stock market in the form of private placement platforms—becoming a new force in China’s stock private placement market.

For the asset allocation approach for PICC’s major asset categories, the annual report discloses as follows:

In fixed-income investments, strengthen the ability to judge medium- to long-term interest rate trends, actively seize allocation opportunities and trading opportunities arising from interest rate fluctuations, flexibly adjust asset duration, and increase investment returns.

In equity investments, implement medium- to long-term funds entering the market deployment, strengthen the absolute return philosophy, and enhance the intensity of allocation to strategic products and the ability to capture structural opportunities.

In alternative investments, actively advance business transformation. Development and investment in innovative asset securitization products have achieved notable results. For the full year, it achieved an issuance scale of CNY 9.466 billion of exchange-traded ABS, ranking first among insurance peers.

Disclaimer: The content and data in this article are for reference only and do not constitute investment advice. Please verify before use. Any actions taken are at your own risk.