Where is "Patient Capital" Headed? Latest Insurance Fund Research Reveals Layout Signals

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Daily Economic News Reporter | Yuan Yuan    Daily Economic News Editor | Huang Bowen

As an important representative of “patient capital” in the A-share market, the investment trends of insurance funds have always attracted market attention. The first quarter is a key window for insurance funds to deploy for the year, and the research activities of insurance asset management institutions (including insurance companies and insurance asset management firms) are traditionally seen as important indicators of the annual investment direction.

On March 23, the Daily Economic News reporter, after analyzing data from Tonghuashun iFinD, found that since the beginning of this year, insurance institutions have conducted over 1,900 investigations of listed A-share companies. In terms of sectors, they mainly focus on industrial machinery, electronic components, electronic equipment and instruments, auto parts and equipment, integrated circuits, Western medicine, and finance.

“Behind insurance research is the core principle outlined in the ‘Measures for the Administration of Insurance Fund Use,’ emphasizing prudence, safety, and asset-liability matching. As a typical long-term liability-based fund, insurance capital’s research logic is not about chasing short-term market hot spots but focusing on fields aligned with national strategic transformation, possessing technological barriers, and with stable cash flow expectations,” an industry insider explained. The electronics and semiconductor industries benefit from domestic substitution and technological innovation policies, the pharmaceutical industry has rigid demand attributes, and auto parts align with the deep development of new energy and intelligent manufacturing industries. Essentially, this layout aims to achieve long-term returns that cover the cost of rigid liabilities by selectively investing in growth industries capable of crossing cycles in a low-interest-rate environment.

Tonghuashun iFinD data shows that as of 6:30 pm on March 23, insurance companies and insurance asset management firms had conducted a total of 1,981 investigations of A-share listed companies this year.

Regarding insurance companies, specialized pension insurance firms have higher average investigation frequencies than general life and property insurance companies. For example, Changjiang Pension Insurance Co., Ltd. conducted 78 investigations, Taiping Pension Insurance Co., Ltd. 66, and Ping An Pension Insurance Co., Ltd. 54. For insurance asset management firms, Taikang Asset Management Co., Ltd., Huatai Asset Management Co., Ltd., and Xinhua Asset Management Co., Ltd. had high investigation frequencies, with 162, 129, and 98 times respectively.

From the sectors targeted by insurance institutions, they mainly focus on industrial machinery, electronic components, electronic equipment and instruments, auto parts and equipment, integrated circuits, Western medicine, and finance.

Regarding the research style and preferences of insurance funds, Yuan Shuai, Deputy Director of the Investment Department at the China Urban Development Research Institute, told the Daily Economic News that their focus on industries like industrial machinery, electronic components, integrated circuits, Western medicine, and finance reflects their role as “patient capital” with dual anchors on technological self-reliance and essential public needs.

“Strategically, industries such as industrial and electronic equipment are at the intersection of global industrial chain restructuring and domestic industrial upgrading, with strong performance resilience and technological barriers, aligning with insurance funds’ long-term growth value exploration needs. Finance and Western medicine sectors have defensive attributes—providing stable dividends and valuation recovery space, and benefiting from the rigid demand driven by aging populations, respectively—helping to hedge macroeconomic volatility,” Yuan Shuai explained. From a strategic perspective, insurance funds are transitioning from traditional ‘interest spread defense’ to ‘high-quality asset enhancement,’ by conducting in-depth research on the STAR Market and ChiNext, aiming to find high-cost-performance targets with new productivity features, replacing pure secondary market speculation with industry empowerment logic, and building a diversified portfolio that balances dividend income and growth premiums.

Wang Peng, Associate Research Fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, shares the same view. He believes that the core logic behind the dense research on industrial, semiconductor, and financial sectors is “dividends as a cushion + technological offensive.” “Financial and Western medicine sectors offer stable cash flow and high dividends to hedge against the costs of liabilities in a low-interest-rate environment; emerging technologies like integrated circuits and auto parts are key directions for national strategy and long-term asset appreciation, as well as for achieving excess returns.”

This research focus also aligns with the survey results published by the China Banking and Insurance Asset Management Industry Association in the ‘2026 Outlook for Asset Allocation in Banking and Insurance Asset Management.’

According to the survey, “hard technology” remains the main theme for insurance investment. Insurance institutions are paying attention to investment themes such as chips and semiconductors, defense and military industry, AI (artificial intelligence) computing power, robotics, energy metals, commercial aerospace, high-dividend stocks, biotech and innovative drugs, and companies going global. They believe that corporate earnings recovery and liquidity environment are the main factors influencing the A-share market. In terms of asset allocation, most insurance institutions plan to slightly increase their holdings of A-shares.

Wang Guojun, Professor at the Insurance School of the University of International Business and Economics, previously told the Daily Economic News that the 2026 insurance asset allocation trend is quite clear. In 2025, insurance funds achieved high returns in the stock market, and it is expected that the A-share market will continue to perform well in 2026. Therefore, stocks and securities investment funds will be the most favored domestic investment assets by insurance funds in 2026.

Data from the State Administration of Financial Supervision shows that by the end of 2025, the total utilization of insurance funds reached 38.5 trillion yuan, an increase of 15.7% from the end of 2024. Among them, the balance of equity funds invested in stocks and funds was about 5.7 trillion yuan, up approximately 39% from 2024.

Regarding the future direction of insurance funds’ equity asset allocation, Gao Chengyuan, Deputy Secretary-General of the Guangdong Social Policy Research Association, believes that future equity allocation will follow a “dual main line”: one is the dividend defense line, with high-dividend assets such as banks, utilities, and white goods still serving as ballast, providing stable cash flow and defensive attributes; the other is the technology growth line, with core areas including AI industry chains (such as computing power, storage, applications), semiconductor equipment and materials, innovative drugs, humanoid robots, and commercial aerospace. Additionally, IPOs in Hong Kong’s “specialized technology” and biotech sectors, as well as gold and other safe-haven assets, will also be key focuses.

“Insurance funds are building a full-cycle investment and financing system through diversified tools like ‘stocks, bonds, funds, and alternatives,’ transitioning from pure financial investment to ‘patient capital + industry empowerment,’ supporting the upgrade of the real economy while seeking long-term excess returns,” Gao Chengyuan said.

Cover image source: AIGC