New trend in foreign investment in A-shares: Barclays Bank becomes the largest holder of the Chip Design ETF

In recent weeks, international institutional investors’ positioning moves in the A-share ETF market have drawn attention. The Cathay SSE STAR Market Chip Design Thematic ETF is set to begin trading soon, and its latest disclosed announcement shows that Barclays Bank, with a holding of 15 million shares, has become the fund’s largest holder, accounting for 7.21% of the fund’s total units. This development marks the first time this year that an overseas institution has entered the top ten holders of a newly issued ETF; previously, similar situations were mostly concentrated in existing (stock) products.

The SSE STAR Market Chip Design Index tracked by the fund was released in July 2024, and its sample stocks include leading chip-design enterprises in the STAR Market sector such as Lantian Technology and Higway Information. Although Cathay Fund’s issuance size is only RMB 209 million, the proportion of institutional investors is 29.12%. Among them, Barclays Bank’s stake accounts for a significantly higher share than other institutions. Notably, in the same period the market already had seven ETF products linked to this index, most of which were newly established during the year.

Overseas institutions’ layout of A-share ETFs is not a one-off. Data show that in November 2025, Barclays Bank simultaneously became the largest holder of three newly issued ETFs, including two Brazil-market ETFs and one Hong Kong-listed technology ETF. Among them, its holdings in the Bradesco Brazil Ibovespa ETF reached 91.7479 million shares, accounting for more than 30%. However, the performance of these three products diverged markedly: the two Brazil ETFs saw net asset value growth of over 14%, while the Hong Kong tech ETF posted losses of more than 20%.

In terms of existing products, overseas institutions’ rebalancing activities are even more frequent. Taking Barclays Bank as an example, its holdings cover 66 ETFs. During the year, it increased positions by more than 80 million shares in products such as the GF CSI Hong Kong-Connect Non-Bank Financial Thematic ETF, while it reduced holdings by more than 100 million shares in products such as the Invesco Hong Kong Hang Seng Consumer ETF. Data show that the institution’s overall holdings decreased by 586 million shares compared with the first half of last year, while UBS Group increased its holdings by 749 million shares in the same period, with a focus on buying the Invesco Great Wall CSI Hong Kong-Connect Technology ETF.

Market analysts point out that overseas institutions’ ETF allocation strategies show clear differentiation: on the one hand, they are increasing their allocations to growth-sector products; on the other hand, they are making structural adjustments to traditional areas such as consumer and energy. This dynamic rebalancing reflects international capital’s continued attention to structural opportunities in the A-share market, and especially in themes related to independent and controllable technology, the participation of overseas investors is on the rise.