Research Report from Asia's Largest Property Insurance Giant: Systematic Layout of Investment in Technology Innovation Enterprises

As the largest property insurance group in Asia, China Pacific Insurance Group's core asset management platform, China Pacific Asset Management Co., Ltd. (CPAM), has long been at the forefront of the industry in terms of asset management scale, and its investment trends are regarded as a "barometer" for insurance fund allocation.

Recently, a research report titled "Paths and Challenges of Insurance Funds Supporting Technological Innovation," co-authored by postdoctoral researcher Zhang Tao and senior managers Zhang Tong from the Strategic Management Department/Financial Management Department, systematically deconstructs how over 37 trillion yuan of insurance funds can be safely and effectively directed towards hard technology fields.

The report not only reveals CPAM's latest layouts in cutting-edge sectors such as artificial intelligence, biomedicine, and integrated circuits but also directly addresses deep-seated contradictions such as solvency constraints and the lack of exit mechanisms, proposing solutions that are both practical and forward-looking in terms of policy.

Given that insurance funds have become one of the most important sources of long-term capital in China's capital market, this in-depth reflection from an industry leader holds significant reference value for understanding how "patient capital" can truly empower new productive forces.

Zhitang has summarized the core points of the report as follows for readers.

The Natural Fit Between Insurance Funds and Technological Innovation

The report from CPAM points out that insurance funds possess three major advantages: long duration, large scale, and stable sources, making them highly compatible with the financing needs of technological innovation.

In 2024, the overall liability duration of China's life insurance industry is approximately 16 years, far exceeding the typical 5 to 10-year cycle required for technological research and development. As of the third quarter of 2025, the balance of funds utilized by national insurance companies reached 37.46 trillion yuan, making them an important source of "patient capital" in the capital market. Especially during periods of market downturn, insurance funds can provide counter-cyclical support to fill the gap left by venture capital.

For insurance institutions themselves, the high growth potential of technology companies also provides a new path to break the low-interest-rate dilemma—allowing them to share in the dividends of industrial transformation while promoting the upgrade of insurance technology through collaboration with technology companies, thereby improving their product and service systems.

From Debt Investment to Full-Cycle Empowerment

As the core asset management platform of Asia's largest property insurance group, CPAM has established a technology finance system covering debt, equity, asset securitization, and thematic products.

In March 2025, the company registered the "CPAM-Hefei Construction Investment Infrastructure Debt Investment Plan," raising 11.1 billion yuan;

In April of the same year, it initiated the establishment of the "Zhongguancun Technology Leasing No. 1 Asset-Backed Plan," revitalizing existing technology leasing assets through a revolving purchase structure;

In May, it created the "Jury Technology Portfolio Asset Management Product," focusing on the Hang Seng Technology Index and independent innovation index constituent stocks, targeting cutting-edge fields such as integrated circuits and artificial intelligence.

By the end of 2024, insurance funds directed towards technology companies exceeded 600 billion yuan, with CPAM's technology finance investment scale growing approximately 30% year-on-year by the end of June 2025, leading the industry.

Real Challenges: Triple Constraints of Regulation, Logic, and Exit

The report candidly states that insurance funds investing in technological innovation still face systemic obstacles. The "Solvency II Phase II" rules have raised the risk factor for unlisted equity investments to 0.41, with capital occupation being about four times that of bonds, significantly suppressing allocation willingness At the same time, insurance funds emphasize current returns and low volatility, while technology investment returns exhibit an "80/20 distribution," with early-stage projects generally lacking cash flow and experiencing significant valuation fluctuations, leading to a clear logical conflict between the two.

In addition, most institutions lack the professional capability to assess technological barriers and team potential, relying on traditional financial models that result in "incomprehension and reluctance to invest." The performance evaluation mechanism is also mismatched: a 7 to 10-year investment cycle vs. annual assessments, which suppresses long-term behavior.

More critically, exit channels are overly reliant on IPOs, with paths such as mergers and acquisitions and S funds being underdeveloped, highlighting liquidity risks.

Breaking the Deadlock: Learning from International Experience to Build a Controllable Innovation Mechanism

The report suggests that the model of the U.S. "Small Business Investment Company" (SBIC) could be referenced—this mechanism provides partial guarantees and low-cost leveraged funds from the government to qualified investment institutions, guiding long-term capital, including insurance funds, towards startups, effectively allowing the state to share part of the risk and amplify the effectiveness of social capital.

Based on this, PICC Asset is exploring localized paths: first, expanding the "debt-to-equity + co-investment" model, intervening with debt in the early to mid-stages and later converting to equity to balance safety and growth;

Second, collaborating with industrial capital to conduct collaborative investments along the industrial chain;

Third, establishing a layered and categorized risk control system, setting differentiated risk tolerance based on the stage of the enterprise; and fourth, planning diversified exit paths in advance.

The research calls for regulatory bodies to improve information disclosure standards for technology enterprises and to build a multi-tiered capital market, providing institutional guarantees for insurance funds to "dare to invest and be able to exit."