China is pumping RMB 360 billion ($53 billion) into its biggest banks and insurers, reports the Financial Times. The move seeks to prop up the financial sector’s declining margins and create buffers to boost economic growth.

Eight institutions including state-run commercial banks ICBC and Agricultural Bank and insurers China Life and China Reinsurance announced they would receive a total of RMB 300 billion from the Ministry of Finance and Rmb60bn from state tobacco companies. 

Weak consumer spending and a five-year property slowdown are pressuring bank margins, while low interest rates are affecting insurers’ long-term investment prospects.

China’s national pension reserve more than doubled its offshore investments over the past three years to RMB 580 billion ($86 billion), reports the South China Morning Post. This comes as the state fund increasingly seeks higher returns by diversifying its portfolio beyond domestic assets.

Offshore investment assets held by the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) reached RMB 580.02 billion at the end of 2025, accounting for a record 15.23% of its total assets, according to an annual report released by the National Council for Social Security Fund.

Offshore assets accounted for 9.8% of the fund’s assets in 2022 at RMB 282 billion, rising to RMB 346 billion in 2023 and RMB 438 billion in 2024.

China is set to roll out rules that would put individual investors on the same regulatory footing as companies when it comes to outbound investment, covering everything from purchases of overseas property to acquisitions of foreign companies, reports the South China Morning Post. Chinese legal experts have said the move will close gray areas long used by wealthy individuals to channel assets abroad.

Under the new draft rules, “the main channels for individual portfolio investments remain secure, but gray-market workarounds will face a shrinking space to operate”, said Li Fan, a Hefei-based lawyer and partner at the Lantai Partners law firm.

The revision comes as overseas property purchases, direct investments in overseas businesses and offshore holding platforms have remained popular asset-allocation choices for high-net-worth individuals in China. Over the past year, China has also stepped up its crackdown on illegal cross-border financial activity and tax evasion through the channelling of assets abroad.

China’s state-backed funds are pulling out of Kweichow Moutai, reports the South China Morning Post. The move adds to the woes of the nation’s biggest baijiu liquor maker whose stock has lost more than 40% from its peak five years ago.

Central Huijin Investment, a unit operated by China’s sovereign wealth fund, and China Securities Finance were no longer listed among Kweichow Moutai’s top 10 shareholders at the end of the second quarter, according to the liquor maker’s first-half report. Profits for the distiller fell by 1.95% from a year ago in the period, marking the first decline in interim results since it was listed in Shanghai in 2001.

The unwinding underscores how some of the nation’s most influential investors are turning cautious on Kweichow Moutai and the baijiu industry, once considered favourite bets for traders and emblematic of China’s consumer sector.

Apple supplier Lingyi iTech is looking beyond smartphones, seeking to raise up to HK$8.3 billion ($1.1 billion) in a Hong Kong IPO, reports the South China Morning Post. The move seeks to fund an ambitious expansion into artificial intelligence hardware and humanoid robotics.

The Shenzhen-listed electronic components maker is expected to debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Friday after offering 811.8 million shares at a maximum price of HK$10.18 each, according to a company filing.

The dual listing marks a strategic push by Lingyi and its founder, Zeng Fangqin, to diversify beyond a maturing smartphone market. The company is positioning itself to benefit from emerging demand for humanoid robots, smart glasses, foldable devices and AI servers.