China urges banks to boost stock investments to support market

An electronic ticker displays stock figures in Pudong's Lujiazui Financial District in Shanghai, China, on Wednesday, June 21, 2023. China's yuan weakened past the closely watched 7.2-per-dollar level as investor sentiment soured on a lack of aggressive stimulus and Beijing signaled a level of comfort about the declines. Photographer: Raul Ariano/Bloomberg

China urged the country’s pension fund, some large banks and insurers to increase stock investments, in the latest effort to bolster its fragile markets.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission held a seminar on Thursday with executives of the financial institutions, who vowed to help stabilize the stock market and boost economic development, according to a CSRC statement. The banks and insurers that attended weren’t named.

The meeting stressed the need to establish an evaluation mechanism with a time frame of at least three years, as well as increasing the scale and weighting of equity investment.

China has taken a series of steps to boost investor confidence recently, from guiding mutual funds to buy their own products, asking companies to step up share buybacks, and for mutual funds to avoid dumping stocks. The CSRC meeting also coincided with reported announcements by a number of brokerages Thursday to cut stock handling fees.

The authorities have previously held similar meetings with financial institutions regularly, especially at times of market weakness, including one with private fund managers last week and another earlier with foreign assets managers. The regulator also held a meeting with the pension fund and large banks in April last year amid a market rout, calling on them to help stabilize markets.

Overseas funds have been fleeing the mainland market, offloading the equivalent of $10.7 billion in a 13-day run of withdrawals through Wednesday, the longest since Bloomberg began tracking the data in 2016. The nation’s equity benchmark is among the worst global performers this month.

The CSRC will study suggestions made by the institutions to enhance support and conditions for pension funds, insurance funds and banks’ wealth management funds to participate in the market for the long term, according to the statement.