As the macro economy showed steady signs of recovery in the second quarter of 2026, the moves of insurance capital—a key long-term institutional investor in the capital markets—have drawn widespread attention.
According to the latest data released by the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the total funds under management by insurance companies surpassed the 40 trillion yuan mark for the first time as of the end of Q2 2026, reaching 40.82 trillion yuan. This represents a sequential increase of 3.52% from the end of Q1 2026 and a year-on-year growth of 12.67%. Meanwhile, insurers have significantly stepped up their allocation to the equity market, with the combined balance of stocks and securities investment funds held by property and casualty insurers and life insurers expanding to 6.39 trillion yuan, reflecting a single-quarter net increase of 489.7 billion yuan.
Based on the 2026 interim reports of listed companies disclosed as of August 16, large-cap blue-chip stocks such as Ping An Bank (000001.SZ) and Kweichow Moutai (600519.SH) remain the core of insurance fund allocations. At the same time, insurers have shown notable increases in positions across non-bank financials, tech manufacturing, and non-ferrous metals. Stocks including Dongxing Securities (601198.SH), Huafon Chemical (002064.SZ), Avary Holding (002938.SZ), and Henan Shenhuo Coal & Power Co.,Ltd. (000933.SZ) have received substantial additions from insurance funds, underscoring a configuration logic that balances both high-dividend and high-growth targets.
Fund Scale Breaks 40 Trillion Mark
Looking back at Q1 2026, the balance of insurance funds under management stood at 39.44 trillion yuan. In Q2, the single-quarter increase reached 1.39 trillion yuan, a notable improvement from the 0.96 trillion yuan added in the previous quarter. However, in terms of annual progress, the cumulative increase in the first half of 2026 reached 2.34 trillion yuan, accounting for only 44.99% of the 5.22 trillion yuan net growth recorded in the full year of 2025. This indicates that the industry's asset expansion pace remains steady, with no signs of aggressive scaling.
By institution type, life insurance companies continue to dominate fund deployment. Data shows that as of the end of Q2, life insurers held 36.87 trillion yuan in funds under management, representing 90.31% of the industry total, up 3.71% sequentially from 35.55 trillion yuan at the end of Q1. Property and casualty insurers managed 2.54 trillion yuan, accounting for 6.12% of the total, with a sequential growth rate of 2.55%—1.16 percentage points lower than that of life insurers.
A non-bank financial analyst at a securities firm explained that life insurers primarily generate premium income from long-term life and annuity products, which have longer capital lock-up periods and greater room for investment maneuvering. In contrast, P&C insurers focus on auto and short-term health insurance, requiring faster capital turnover and prioritizing liquidity, making their relatively slower growth a normal industry phenomenon.
In terms of asset allocation structure, fixed-income assets remain the "ballast stone," but the share of equity assets continues to climb. In Q1 2026, the proportion of stock and securities investment fund balances stood at 14.97%. By the end of Q2, this ratio had risen to 15.66%, an increase of 0.69 percentage points, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of sequential improvement.
However, in terms of equity asset growth, the balance of stocks and securities funds increased 8.33% sequentially in Q2, trailing the performance of major stock market indices during the same period. A recent research report from Guosen Securities noted that during Q2, the CSI 300 rose 11.9% quarter-on-quarter, the ChiNext Index surged 36.4%, while the CSI Dividend Index fell 12.3%, reflecting a market with significant index gains but pronounced structural divergence. Despite this, the balance of insurance stock and fund allocations rose only 8.3% from the end of Q1. "We estimate that due to the weaker near-term performance of the dividend sector, insurers remained relatively cautious in increasing equity positions during Q2," the report stated.
Breaking down the sources of equity growth, life insurers once again led the charge. Life insurance companies added a combined 455.8 billion yuan in stocks and securities investment funds sequentially in Q2, contributing 93.08% of the industry's total equity increase. Property and casualty insurers added 33.9 billion yuan, accounting for just 6.92%.
"Life insurers have longer liability durations and higher return requirements, giving them greater room for equity allocation. P&C insurers, with shorter liability durations, prioritize asset liquidity and safety, so their equity allocation ratios are relatively lower and their increases more cautious," the aforementioned analyst told Times Finance.
Heavy Allocation to Blue Chips, Adding to Tech and Metals
As listed companies roll out their 2026 interim reports, the heavyweight stock layouts of insurance funds are gradually coming into view. Based on Wind data and corporate announcements disclosed as of August 16, Times Finance compiled that as of the end of Q2 2026, among the stocks with the highest market value held by insurers, those in the banking, telecommunications services, and tech manufacturing sectors accounted for a significant share.
From a core holdings perspective, large-cap blue chips remain the "ballast" for insurance funds. Ping An Bank, as a leading joint-stock commercial bank, saw heavy positioning from multiple life insurers during Q2, with total holdings market value reaching 114.596 billion yuan at period-end. Kweichow Moutai, despite no large-scale additions, maintained a stable holdings market value of over 6.6 billion yuan, underscoring a long-term allocation commitment. China Mobile (600941.SH), although reduced by 2.7323 million shares by Taiping Asset Management, still recorded a total holdings market value of 4.81 billion yuan, remaining a core target for insurers in the telecom services sector.
In terms of increase directions, tech manufacturing, non-ferrous metals, and chemicals have become key areas of focus. Specifically, in the hardware equipment sector, Avary Holding (002938.SZ) saw combined additions of 6.0991 million shares from China Life Insurance Company Limited's traditional and participating insurance products during Q2, pushing the period-end holdings market value to 2.311 billion yuan. In the non-ferrous metals sector, Henan Shenhuo Coal & Power Co.,Ltd. (000933.SZ) received an addition of 4.1117 million shares from China Life's traditional insurance product, bringing the total insurance holdings market value to 1.347 billion yuan. In the chemicals sector, Huafon Chemical (002064.SZ) saw an increase of 4.7469 million shares from China Life's participating insurance product, with period-end holdings market value reaching 545 million yuan. In non-bank financials, Dongxing Securities also received an addition of 10.1136 million shares from China Life's participating insurance product via a syndicate, with period-end holdings market value reaching 380 million yuan.
On the reduction side, certain stocks saw moderate trimming by insurers. Apart from China Mobile, Navtech (300627.SZ) emerged as one of the more significantly reduced stocks in Q2. PICC Life and PICC P&C general insurance products collectively reduced their holdings by 3.8151 million shares, bringing the combined period-end holdings market value down to 482 million yuan.
Looking ahead, industry insiders believe insurers will maintain their allocation intensity toward high-dividend large-cap blue chips while also positioning around sectors with long-term growth potential such as AI, semiconductors, new energy, and biomedicine. The Guosen Securities report pointed out that equity assets have become key to insurers' return breakthroughs and are expected to be a core part of future allocation strategies. On one hand, dividend assets are upgrading from a phased defensive tool to a cross-cycle allocation cornerstone for insurers. Insurers will further explore investment opportunities in high-dividend assets, including OCI (Other Comprehensive Income) equity-type assets. On the other hand, insurance companies are focusing on new quality productivity tracks such as AI, semiconductors, new energy, and biomedicine, deploying small-scale satellite allocations through FVTPL (Financial Assets at Fair Value Through Profit or Loss) stocks and thematic ETFs, capturing growth dividends from industrial upgrades and providing upward return elasticity for their portfolios.