Despite the ups and downs of the A** market, insurance institutions with long-term investment as their main goal are still in full swing looking for investment targets. On March 4, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily found through the data of Oriental Wealth Choice that since the beginning of the year, 119 insurance institutions have intensively investigated A-share listed companies 813 times, not only in the previously popular field of science and technology, but also involving communications, banks and other sectors. The enthusiasm of insurance capital research continues to be high, reflecting the optimism of insurance funds on the market this year, and some insurance companies have stated that the opportunities in the equity market will outweigh the challenges in 2024. Looking at the market, what are the investment opportunities for insurance companies in 2024? Under the expectation of recovery, what are the prospects for the recovery of insurance capital investment?
Since the beginning of the year, he has participated in nearly 1,000 surveys.
As an important medium and long-term fund, insurance capital plays an important role in the capital market, and its dynamics and strategies have attracted much attention from the market.
According to the statistics of Oriental Fortune Choice, as of March 4, 119 insurance institutions have conducted intensive research, and the number of surveys has reached 813.
From the perspective of the insurance institutions participating in the survey, pension insurance companies are the most active in participating in the research of listed companies. Among them, many companies, including Ping An Pension Insurance and Taiping Pension, have conducted more than 30 surveys, and Changjiang Pension and Xintai Insurance are also relatively high. Compared with property insurance companies and insurance asset management institutions, life insurance companies are still the "main force" of research since the beginning of this year.
As an important institutional investor in the capital market, life insurance companies have strong risk tolerance and investment capabilities, and can play an important role in the equity market. Zhu Keli, executive director of the China Information Association and founding president of the National Research Institute of New Economy, said.
Which companies are more attractive to insurers? There are a number of listed companies with more than 10 insurance capital research institutions, and Changchun High-tech, Sanhua Intelligent Control, Zhongji InnoLight and other companies have the highest number of insurance capital research institutions.
On the whole, from the perspective of the survey, the industries involved in the insurance capital survey include communications, electronics, light manufacturing, computers, national defense and military industry, environmental protection and other sectors. Since the beginning of 2024, more than 10 listed banks have participated in the survey, including Bank of Shanghai and Bank of Suzhou.
Although research is not the same as **, the continuous promotion of research and other actions by insurance companies has released a signal to pay attention to market dynamics and seek high-quality investment opportunities. Zhu Keli also said that banking, science and technology, manufacturing and other industries have become the focus of the survey, because these industries have good growth potential and investment value in the current economic environment. For example, science and technology innovation and manufacturing are strategic emerging industries encouraged by the state, with high growth and innovation potential, which is in line with the concept of long-term investment of insurance companies. Through in-depth research in these industries, insurers can better grasp market trends and industry dynamics, and provide strong support for future investment decisions.
The equity market has always been a key component of the asset allocation of insurance funds, and from the perspective of the deployment of insurance funds in 2023, as of the end of 2023, the use of insurance funds is about 2767 trillion yuan, an increase of 10 percent from the beginning of the year5 percentage points. In terms of equity investment, the full-year ** and **investment** increased by 454%。
The recovery of the investment side can be expected.
In 2023, capital market fluctuations and declining interest rates** will bring considerable pressure on insurance companies to achieve growth. Taking non-listed insurance companies as an example, 40% of the comprehensive investment returns are less than 3%.
As a long-term liability fund, although insurance funds have certain difficulties in the allocation of equity investment, in the eyes of industry insiders, opportunities and challenges coexist.
Huang Benyao, vice president and interim head of PICC Assets, summarized the timing of 2024 as: "The macroeconomic situation at home and abroad will continue to recover, and the fixed income market as a whole will show a trend of downward interest rates, steepening term spreads, and credit risk convergence. Insurance funds can take the initiative to seize the opportunity, actively adjust the asset allocation structure, and improve the level of asset-liability matching. ”
According to information recently released by the Insurance Asset Management Association of China on WeChat, the macroeconomic confidence index of the insurance asset management industry in the first quarter of 2024 is 5565, fixed income investment confidence index 5333, equity investment confidence index 6114。Combined with the confidence index for the whole year of 2024 and the first quarter of 2024, insurance institutions have high confidence in macroeconomic and equity investment this year, and their confidence in fixed income investment has gradually stabilized.
So, looking ahead to 2024, what are the investment opportunities for insurance capital? Based on the insurance capital raising and research since the beginning of the year, which sectors will continue to be watched? "Looking forward to 2024, there will be many investment opportunities for insurance capital. As the expectation of economic recovery increases, the market will present a more diversified investment landscape. Zhu Keli said that in the equity market, emerging industries, consumption upgrading, technological innovation and other fields will become the focus of insurance capital; In terms of the fixed income market, high-quality bonds and asset-based products will also provide stable investment returns for insurance funds, and with the continuous improvement of the degree of opening up and the gradual maturity of the financial market, insurance funds will have more opportunities to participate in overseas market investment and international cooperation; In terms of investment-side repair, insurers will pay more attention to the improvement of risk management and asset allocation capabilities to cope with the challenges brought by market volatility and uncertainty, and with the continuous advancement of technology and the expansion of application scenarios, insurers will also actively explore the use of advanced technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence to improve the scientificity and accuracy of investment decisions.
Some industry insiders said that under the expectation of industry recovery, the recovery outlook of insurance capital investment may be more optimistic. Bai Wenxi, vice chairman of the China Enterprise Capital Alliance, said that first of all, with the recovery of the economy, the asset income of insurance companies is expected to increase, which will provide more choices and opportunities for insurance capital investment. Secondly, with the gradual liberalization of regulatory policies, insurance capital investment will be more flexible and diversified, and more asset types and areas can be invested, such as equity, bonds, **, etc. Finally, with the continuous advancement of scientific and technological innovation and green development, insurance capital investment will gradually tilt towards these areas to achieve a balance between investment returns and social responsibility. Therefore, under the expectation of recovery, the investment side of insurance capital is expected to usher in more investment opportunities and market space.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Hu Yongxin.