All six major state-owned banks' AIC have been fully implemented, expanding the banking system to 9 institutions.

By ( Peng @E1@

On March 20, Postal Savings Bank of China’s subsidiary, China Postal Financial Asset Investment Co., Ltd. (abbreviated as “Postal Investment”), was officially approved to open for business. This marks the successful launch of the sixth state-owned large-bank financial asset investment company (AIC), and the six major state-owned banks have fully “assembled” their AIC licenses. With the listing and opening of AICs for three joint-stock banks—Industrial Bank, China Merchants Bank, and CITIC Bank—at the end of 2025, the total number of bank-based AICs has expanded to nine. Of these, six are state-owned large banks and three are joint-stock banks.

From state dominance to diversified expansion

As a specialized platform connecting indirect financing and direct financing, AIC’s core positioning is to provide “patient capital” and address the challenges that enterprises, especially science-and-technology innovation (tech) enterprises, face in obtaining long-cycle financing. Looking back on the industry’s development, in 2017, the first batch of AICs was established by five state-owned banks—Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Bank of Communications. At that time, the core mission was to serve market-oriented debt-to-equity swaps and defuse risks arising from high corporate leverage, when the industry was still in an early stage of institutional setup.

In September 2024, the pilot cities for AIC equity investment were expanded to 18 cities; in March 2025, the National Financial Regulatory Administration issued the “Notice on Further Expanding the Pilot Program for Equity Investments by Financial Asset Investment Companies.” It stated that it would support eligible commercial banks to initiate and establish AICs.

With policies continuing to roll out and be implemented, AIC expansion has accelerated markedly, and the lineup initially led by state-owned banks has continued to grow. In 2025, four banks—Postal Savings Bank of China, China Merchants Bank, CITIC Bank, and Industrial Bank—were successively approved to筹建 (set up) AICs, and three joint-stock-bank AICs were approved to open by year-end. On March 20 this year, Postal Savings Bank of China issued an announcement saying that it recently received a reply from the National Financial Regulatory Administration regarding the opening of Postal Financial Asset Investment Co., Ltd. Based on the aforementioned reply, the AIC being筹建 by the bank—Postal Investment—was approved to open for business. Postal Investment’s registered capital is RMB 10 billion, and its registered location is Beijing. With the opening of Postal Investment, all six state-owned large-bank AICs have been fully assembled, and the total number of bank-based AICs has expanded to nine.

Yang Zenggang, director of the Shanghai Finance and Development Laboratory, told Securities Daily that the milestone of Postal Investment’s opening carries threefold significance: First, the subject framework has taken shape, and a multi-tier AIC system has been preliminarily established. Second, business focus has shifted toward tech-equity investment, and “invest early, invest small, and invest in hard technology” has become a shared consensus. Third, the value of AIC as “patient capital” has been confirmed, becoming a key to unblocking the “technology—industry—finance” cycle. Currently, AICs are moving from the license-privilege period into a deep operational phase driven by capabilities, and the industry’s competitive and cooperative landscape will be reshaped.

Investment project advancement accelerates

As AICs were rolled out one after another, the pace of related investment project advancement has increased significantly. Major institutions, including the AICs under Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of Communications, and China Construction Bank, have densely established equity funds. The investment regions are mainly concentrated in pilot cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. The project rollout speed of AICs under joint-stock banks has also continued to improve: China Merchants Bank’s AIC participated in the capital increase of Deep Blue Auto Technology; CITIC Bank’s AIC completed its investment in Shenzhen Ganghua Dingxin Clean Energy and became its second-largest shareholder.

Zenggang said that, currently, AICs of state-owned large banks and those of joint-stock banks have formed differentiated development paths. State-owned large banks mostly adopt a structure combining dual GPs and parent-subsidiary funds, binding with local state-owned assets and covering both traditional and emerging industries. Joint-stock banks primarily focus on direct equity investments and integrated investment-plus-lending (equity and lending linkage), concentrating on strategic emerging industries such as new energy and semiconductors, with a higher degree of market orientation.

Zenggang believes that the dense deployment of AICs by banks behind the scenes is driven by multiple strategic logics. Policy guidance is an important driving force: AICs are positioned as a core carrier of technology finance, so establishing AICs is both a response to regulatory requirements and a bid to capture policy dividends. Meanwhile, faced with pressures such as narrowing net interest margins and slowing growth in traditional credit, AICs open up a new avenue of equity investment for banks, helping to expand non-interest income and facilitate a transition toward becoming comprehensive financial service providers. In addition, through debt-to-equity swaps, banks can revitalize existing assets, optimize risk structures, and that is also a consideration for banks’ risk management.

However, Zenggang said that bank-based AIC development still faces multiple challenges. The core issue is the difficulty of converting from banks’ traditional “debt-based thinking” in credit business to the “equity logic” of equity investment. There is a conflict between conservative risk-control culture and the high-risk nature of equity investment, and there are shortcomings in investment research and due diligence capabilities. Second, the exit mechanisms are not well developed, and some projects are hard to exit. In addition, insufficient compensation incentives and an inadequate tolerance-for-failure and exemption-for-accountability mechanism make it hard to meet the talent needs for equity investment. For a path to break the deadlock, he believes differentiated positioning is key: AICs of state-owned large banks rely on funding and customer advantages to focus on large-scale strategic projects and industrial-chain integration, while AICs of joint-stock banks leverage their market-based advantages to cultivate niche tracks in depth and build professional barriers. At the same time, it is necessary to accelerate technology empowerment and enhance investment research and risk identification capabilities.

Yang Haiping, a researcher at the Shanghai Institute of Finance and Law, told Securities Daily that AICs are a key part of upgrading the financial system and a distinctive model for science-and-technology innovation finance. Looking ahead, priority could focus on three areas: First, revitalize existing assets and repair the balance sheets of micro entities through market-oriented debt-to-equity swaps and similar models. Second, work in conjunction with local governments’母基金 (parent funds) to strengthen efforts in tech-innovation finance. Third, coordinate with the parent bank to explore comprehensive solutions for an integrated “investment in high-tech industries and universal commercial banking” approach.

(Editor: Qian Xiaorui)

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