SWF Radar CentralHuijinInvestmentCompany

China Knowledge reports that, “Central Huijin Investment Co, an investment arm of China’s sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp (CIC), is said to be in talks with China’s insurance protection fund to buy 38.815% stake in New China Life Insurance Co from the latter, sources reported.”

Thomson Reuters reports that, “Central Huijin, an arm of China Investment Corp, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, would keep buying stocks in big Chinese-listed banks, an official newspaper has reported, citing a company source.”

Xinhua reports that, “Chinese three largest commercial banks [CCB, ICBC, and BOC] announced Tuesday that Central Huijin Investment Co., Ltd., an investment arm of the government, had increased its shareholdings of the three banks.”

XFN-ASIA writes that, “Huijin Investment Co, an investment arm of China Investment Corp (CIC), will buy shares in three of the country’s big four state-owned banks [China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and Bank of China], the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing CIC sources.”

Here is the original English-language report by Xinhua.

China Knowledge writes that, “Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), one of China’s Big Four companies, may receive a capital injection worth approximate US$20 billion, local newspaper First Financial Daily reported. … The capital injection would be carried out by State-owned investment company Central Huijin Investment Co, according to the report.”

China Daily reports that, “China Central Huijin Investment Corp, the subsidiary of the nation’s sovereign wealth fund [the China Investment Corporation (CIC)], formed a new board of directors on Friday, appointing Lou Jiwei, former finance vice-minister, as its chairman.”

The Financial Times reports that, “The US [Federal Reserve] has held back approval of banking licences for China's two biggest banks because of concerns over the role of China's sovereign wealth fund [the China Investment Corporation] as their largest shareholder, US and Chinese officials say. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China's largest bank by assets, has been lobbying for over a year to set up branch operations in the US. China Construction Bank, the country's second-largest by assets, put in its application in February.”

AsianInvestor writes that, “China's three sovereign wealth funds – China Investment Corporation (CIC), National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and China-Africa Development Fund (CAD) – are likely to outsource a combined $320 billion to foreign asset managers over the course of the next three years, according to a report by Z-Ben Advisors.”

It is noteworthy that the report’s authors identify three Chinese SWFs, and that one of the funds they identify – the NSSF – is generally thought of as, at most in this context, a sovereign pension fund, while the other – CAD – is not generally considered to be an SWF.

China is in fact generally considered to have just one SWF or – at most – two, with SAFE or its investment arm the SAFE Investment Company sometimes included alongside CIC.

CITIC and the China Development Bank (CDB) are also sometimes described as SWFs, although there are contexts in which this description certainly does not fit. It is also easy to imagine future contexts in which the likes of Jianyin Investment or the Central Huijin Investment Company, now folded into the CIC, are described as discrete SWFs, as they have been in the past.

Examples such as these once again suggest that it would be impossible to come up with a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for SWF status that would include all the types of sovereign investment vehicles that are regularly and justifiably described as SWFs while excluding funds that common sense dictates should not be included in any list of SWFs. This surely has implications for authors of SWF guidelines and codes of conduct.

XFN-ASIA writes that, “Agricultural Bank of China said media reports regarding a planned capital injection of up to 50 bln usd into the bank by a unit of China’s sovereign wealth fund are unfounded, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Media reports have said that Central Huijin, a wholly-owned subsidiary of sovereign fund China Investment Corp (CIC), would inject 45-50 bln usd into the bank by April.”

Reuters reports that, “China’s central bank may inject $45 billion-$50 billion into Agricultural Bank of China as early as the end of April to kick-start restructuring that could lead to more capital raising, a newspaper said on Tuesday. The state-run Oriental Morning Post reported that a detailed proposal of the capital injection by Central Huijin, the investment arm of China’s central bank, was due to be discussed at China’s annual meeting of parliament in March.”