All Nine Bank AICs Profitable in H1 2026, Equity Investment Intentions Top RMB 380 Billion

In the first half of 2026, all nine bank financial asset investment companies (AICs) achieved profitability, with equity investment intention amounts surpassing RMB 380 billion. The AICs under the five largest banks posted combined net profits of RMB 17.349 billion, up 2.41 times year on year. Among them, CCB Trust recorded net profits of RMB 7.129 billion, a 4.96-fold increase. Currently, six state-owned banks and three joint-stock banks have been approved to establish AICs, with total registered capital of RMB 148.5 billion.

AICs were established with approval from the National Financial Regulatory Administration, initially focusing on debt-to-equity swaps and related businesses. From 2017 to 2018, the first batch of financial asset investment companies was approved for the five major state-owned commercial banks: ICBC, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Bank of Communications. After 2020, regulators approved AIC equity investment pilots. In 2024, the National Financial Regulatory Administration expanded the equity investment pilot from Shanghai to 18 large and medium-sized cities. In 2025, the administration issued a notice extending the pilot to provinces where pilot cities are located and moderately relaxing limits such as shareholding caps. At the end of 2025, AICs under Industrial Bank, China Merchants Bank, and CITIC Bank commenced operations. In March 2026, the AIC under Postal Savings Bank of China received approval to begin operations.

According to China Construction Bank's interim report, CCB Trust focuses on market-based debt-to-equity swaps while prudently advancing equity investment pilot business. BOCOM Financial Leasing saw the number and amount of newly placed pure equity projects more than double year on year, with net profits of RMB 1.466 billion, up 175.64%. Industrial Bank Financial Leasing recorded revenue of RMB 175 million in the first half, including investment dividend income of RMB 163 million, with key allocations to strategic emerging industries such as lithium batteries, new materials, semiconductors, electronic specialty gases, and synthetic biology. CITIC Financial Leasing continued to deepen its focus on hard-tech sectors including artificial intelligence, new energy, new materials, integrated circuits, and high-end manufacturing.

Since 2026, multiple new listings have involved bank AIC investments. Taking ChangXin Memory Technologies as an example, according to the prospectus, the AICs of the five major banks—CCB Trust, ABC Financial Leasing, ICBC Financial Leasing, BOC Asset, and BOCOM Financial Leasing—hold stakes of 0.83%, 0.95%, 0.64%, 0.38%, and 0.38%, respectively, with combined direct holdings of approximately 1.915 billion shares. Based on the latest closing price of RMB 55.55 per share, the market value of the five AICs' holdings exceeds RMB 100 billion. Calculated at the 2024 capital increase price of RMB 2.63 per share, the return on the ChangXin investment exceeds 21 times.

In 2026, the nine AICs participated in over 66 investment funds or projects. Since the expansion of AIC equity investment pilots in 2025, signed intention amounts have exceeded RMB 380 billion. Agricultural Bank of China Vice President Wang Dajun stated at the results conference that full coverage of AIC funds in all 18 pilot cities and project deployment across all of them have been achieved, with multiple investment projects accelerating in the first half. A pipeline of quality enterprises that have passed listing reviews or initiated listing tutoring filings has been reserved, supporting projects in integrated circuits, commercial aerospace, artificial intelligence, and new materials, among other fields.