The latest industry data released by the National Financial Regulatory Administration shows that, as of the end of the second quarter, China's insurance fund usage balance surpassed the 40 trillion yuan mark for the first time, reaching a record high of 40.82 trillion yuan. From the perspective of asset allocation structure, the allocation of major asset categories for insurance funds steadily improved in the second quarter. Compared to the end of the first quarter, the proportion of equity assets, including stocks and securities investment funds, continued to rise, while bond allocation remained stable, and the proportions of bank deposits and long-term equity investments saw a slight decline. This presents a distinctive feature of "stable fixed-income ballast, expanding equity scale, and diversified allocation structure."

The insurance fund usage balance surpassing 40 trillion yuan indicates that insurance funds, as key long-term institutional investors in the capital market, have further enhanced their capacity to serve the real economy and capital markets. Data shows that, as of the end of the second quarter, the balance increased by 6.1% from the beginning of the year, with a year-on-year growth rate of 12.7%, reflecting a steady acceleration in scale expansion. Long Ge, Deputy Director of the Innovation and Risk Management Research Center at the University of International Business and Economics, stated that the continuous rise in the scale of insurance fund usage is primarily driven by the steady growth of the insurance industry's liability side. From 2020 to 2025, China's original insurance premium income steadily expanded over consecutive years, reaching 4.5 trillion yuan, 4.49 trillion yuan, 4.7 trillion yuan, 5.12 trillion yuan, 5.7 trillion yuan, and 6.12 trillion yuan, respectively, indicating a sustained enhancement in the industry's premium absorption capacity. In the first half of this year, the industry's original insurance premium income reached 3.86 trillion yuan, continuously supporting the asset side. Beyond core premium income, incremental funds such as new contributions from policyholder investment accounts and new contributions from investment-linked insurance independent accounts, which are not included in original insurance premium statistics, have also broadened the sources of insurance funds, providing solid support for expanding asset-side allocation. Looking at the industry's development history, the scale of insurance fund usage has shown a trend of accelerated growth and leapfrog advancement: breaking through 10 trillion yuan in 2015, 20 trillion yuan in the second quarter of 2020, 30 trillion yuan in the second quarter of 2024, and successfully reaching the 40 trillion yuan mark in the second quarter of 2026. Long Ge believes this reflects both the resilience and steady development of the insurance industry and the benefits of a policy dividend from regulators continuously opening up investment channels and enriching allocation tools. Since 2020, regulatory authorities have steadily optimized the oversight system for insurance fund investments, orderly expanding investment boundaries and enriching diversified allocation tools, opening up space for incremental allocation. Specifically, in 2020, industry restrictions on financial equity investments for insurance funds were lifted, and a negative list management system was implemented, while insurance funds were allowed to participate in treasury bond futures trading solely for hedging interest rate fluctuation risks. In 2021, investments in publicly offered infrastructure REITs were formally permitted, providing a standardized tool for insurance funds to allocate to real estate and infrastructure. In 2022, compliant pathways for insurance funds to invest in government-subsidized rental housing through multiple channels were clarified, supporting livelihood infrastructure construction. In 2025, a pilot program for insurance funds to invest in gold business at the Shanghai Gold Exchange was launched, and the scope of investable industries for major equity investments was further expanded to cover new tracks such as technology and big data. The implementation of these policies has driven the transition of insurance funds from a traditional fixed-income-dominated allocation model towards a diversified, full-spectrum asset allocation system, laying the institutional foundation for sustained scale expansion.

Examining the detailed allocation structure, as of the end of the second quarter, the composition of the insurance fund usage balance was clear, with the major asset allocation ratio further optimized, highlighting a balance between offense and defense. Bond assets continued to play a "ballast stone" role, the proportion of equity asset allocation consistently rose, and the share of deposit-type assets declined. Specifically, at the end of the second quarter, the combined bond allocation ratio for life insurance companies and property insurance companies remained high and stable at 50.52%, unchanged from the end of the first quarter, securing the position as the largest allocation category and solidifying the base for stable returns. Equity asset allocation saw a continuous increase. The stock allocation ratio stood at 10.41%, up 0.32 percentage points quarter-on-quarter; the fund allocation ratio (primarily equity funds) was 5.82%, up 0.38 percentage points quarter-on-quarter. The combined ratio of these two asset types rose to 16.23%, a record high. As of the end of the second quarter, the total scale of stocks and funds allocated by life and property insurance companies reached 6.4 trillion yuan, with a single-quarter increase of nearly 490 billion yuan in the second quarter, indicating significant expansion momentum. Meanwhile, the proportion of low-yield, low-volatility traditional fixed-income assets continued to decline, with bank deposits falling to 7.70%. The proportion of long-term equity investments stood at 7.62%, both indicators showing a slight decrease from the end of the first quarter. Ge Yuxiang, chief analyst of non-bank finance at Zhongtai Securities, stated that the quarter-on-quarter increase in the equity asset allocation ratio at the end of the second quarter was mainly due to the overall recovery of the A-share market and valuation repairs, which boosted the market value of equity assets. Additionally, the balance of stock allocations by insurance funds has achieved quarter-on-quarter increases for eight consecutive quarters, indicating a long-term upward trend in equity allocation. Zhongtai Securities estimates that, under a neutral market assumption, the incremental allocation funds for stocks and funds by insurance funds in 2026 is expected to reach approximately 624.8 billion yuan, continuously injecting long-term stable incremental funds into the capital market. Currently, the insurance industry is in a critical phase of normalizing low interest rates and preventing interest rate spread losses. Optimizing major asset allocation and enhancing long-term investment returns are key objectives for the use of insurance funds. Lu Xiaoyue, a co-founder of Yanshu Asset Management, commented that appropriately increasing equity asset allocation is a core pathway for insurance funds to hedge against interest rate spread losses and boost investment returns, but it is not the sole direction. Insurance fund allocation must always aim for asset-liability matching, meeting duration and solvency requirements, while balancing safety, profitability, and liquidity. Looking ahead, Lu Xiaoyue predicts that the major asset allocation for insurance funds will form a pattern of "a fixed-income base, a high-dividend core position, and a hard-tech equity offensive spear." It is expected that in the third quarter, insurance funds' equity allocation will continue a barbell-type layout strategy, maintaining core positions in high-dividend, low-volatility blue-chip assets for stable dividend cash flows to withstand market fluctuations and ensure portfolio stability, while precisely positioning in growth tracks like computing power and storage hard-tech sectors, selecting targets with clear order fulfillment and performance realization to tap into medium-to-long-term growth potential, achieving a balance between stable returns and excess returns.