According to the latest information from the HKEX's disclosure system, after increasing its holding of 14.0125 million H-shares of China Merchants Bank on December 31, 2025, Ping An Life Insurance reached 20% of the bank's total H-share capital, triggering a mandatory stake disclosure under Hong Kong market rules.
Prior to this, Ping An Life Insurance had already triggered disclosure requirements for CM BANK's H-shares on January 10, March 13, and June 17, with its holdings surpassing 5%, 10%, and 15% of the total H-shares, respectively.
Based on this count, a total of seven listed banks were subject to stake disclosures by insurance capital in 2025. Among them, the H-shares of CM BANK, Agricultural Bank of China, and Zhengzhou Bank all received four such disclosures; the H-shares of Postal Savings Bank received three.
The first disclosure for CM BANK's H-shares occurred as early as January 10, 2025, when Ping An Life's holdings first reached 5% of the bank's H-share capital.
On March 13, 2025, Ping An Life spent nearly HK$300 million to increase its holding of CM BANK H-shares by 6.0675 million shares on the open market, pushing its stake above 10% of the total H-shares and constituting a second disclosure.
Following another purchase of 6.2955 million CM BANK H-shares on June 17, 2025, Ping An Life's total holding reached 15% of the bank's H-share capital, triggering the third mandatory disclosure.
The latest disclosure shows that on December 31, 2025, Ping An Life continued its buying spree, adding 14.0125 million CM BANK H-shares to reach 20% of the H-share capital, completing the fourth stake disclosure.
Calculated from January 10 to December 31, 2025, Ping An Life accumulated an increase of nearly 700 million CM BANK H-shares. As of December 31, 2025, Ping An Life held approximately 922 million CM BANK H-shares, representing over 3.65% of the bank's total share capital, with a latest market value close to HK$48 billion.
As early as June 2025, Wang Liang, President of China Merchants Bank, responded to Ping An Life's stake disclosures during the bank's shareholder meeting. He expressed welcome for long-term capital investment in the bank, viewing it as recognition and beneficial for valuation stability, adding, "We have communicated with these long-term funds, and they have expressed their intention to act as financial investors without seeking board seats."
According to its plans, China Merchants Bank intends to distribute an interim cash dividend for the first half of 2025 at RMB 1.013 per share (pre-tax), with a payout ratio exceeding 35%. The cash dividend payment date for A-shares is expected to be around January 16, 2026.
It is worth noting that CMB Investments, which commenced operations on December 2, 2025, has already completed its "first deal": on December 24, Changan Automobile announced that the capital increase and expansion project for its controlling subsidiary, Deepal Automobile, was successfully completed, with CMB Investments participating with an investment of RMB 500 million, acquiring a 2.4187% stake post-increase.
As a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Merchants Bank, CMB Investments received approval for establishment in July 2025. With a registered capital of RMB 15 billion, it is the AIC (Asset Investment Company) among joint-stock banks with the highest initial registered capital.
Stake disclosures by insurance capital were a theme throughout 2025, with financial stocks being the absolute core focus. During the year, a total of seven listed banks were subject to such disclosures.
Besides CM BANK, Ping An Life Insurance also made four disclosures for Agricultural Bank of China's H-shares and three for Postal Savings Bank's H-shares. Furthermore, in the third quarter of 2025, Ping An entered the top ten shareholder lists for the A-shares of both Agricultural Bank of China and Postal Savings Bank.
In August 2025, Guo Xiaotao, Executive Vice President and Co-CEO of Ping An Insurance, discussed the company's disclosure actions during an interim results briefing. He stated that it is necessary to understand Ping An's overall investment strategy rather than viewing the actions in isolation.
"The core of Ping An's investment strategy is asset-liability matching; the key consideration is how investments can be effectively matched with the front-end liability business," Guo Xiaotao said.
He explained that whether investing in peers or other industries, Ping An adheres to a "Three Reliables" principle: assessing if a company is operationally reliable, has promising growth prospects, and offers sustainable dividends. "This is the core standard for Ping An to evaluate an investment, and for deciding whether to hold a company's stock stably over the long term," he added.
Additionally, New China Life Insurance acquired over 5% of Bank of Hangzhou's shares via a block trade in January 2025. Ruizhong Insurance and Minsheng Insurance triggered disclosures for China CITIC Bank's H-shares and China Zheshang Bank's H-shares in March and August, respectively.
Hongkan Life Insurance triggered its first disclosure for Zhengzhou Bank's H-shares in June 2025. By September 30, its shareholding had reached 447 million shares, representing over 22% of the bank's total H-shares and approximately 4.92% of its total share capital.
According to incomplete statistics, following continuous increases in holdings, and based solely on changes in A-share and H-share ownership disclosed by listed banks, by the end of September 2025, at least two insurance capital entities appeared in the top ten shareholder lists of 12 listed banks.
