Continue to increase holdings! Ping An has raised its stake in China Merchants Bank H shares for the fourth time

In Ping An's "pocket," the weight of bank stocks is becoming increasingly heavy.

On January 8, Ping An Life announced that its entrusted investment in China Merchants Bank's H-shares has reached the 20% threshold for shareholding as of December 31, 2025.

This marks the fourth public shareholding initiative by Ping An in China Merchants Bank's H-shares over the past year.

This move is not surprising. In the recently concluded year of 2025, insurance funds "sweeping up" bank stocks has become the norm, and Ping An is undoubtedly one of the most generous players in this regard.

By the end of 2025, the book balance of Ping An Life's holdings in China Merchants Bank's H-shares had reached 43.956 billion yuan.

From 5% to 20%, Ping An's accumulation curve is resolute, and the logic is clear: in a long cycle of declining interest rates, insurance funds need a sufficiently large, stable, and "generous" asset pool.

China Merchants Bank happens to meet all these criteria.

In terms of performance, China Merchants Bank still firmly holds the title of "King of Retail." Despite the general pressure on industry interest margins, it still achieved steady profit growth in the first half of 2025, maintaining a high provision coverage ratio, and its asset quality is outstanding among peers.

The core attraction may lie in dividends; for the fiscal year 2024, China Merchants Bank distributed a dividend of 2.00 yuan per share, resulting in a high H-share dividend yield over the long term.

For Ping An Life, which holds a massive amount of insurance liability reserves, compared to the volatile equity market and the continuously declining bond market yields, the high-dividend China Merchants Bank's H-shares, which come with "dividend tax advantages," are an excellent long-duration matching asset.

Ping An itself is also undergoing a "resilience test."

As the shareholding party, Ping An's net profit surged nearly 50% in 2024, and its operating profit also achieved a 3.7% growth in the first half of 2025. Although net profit occasionally fluctuates due to equity market volatility, the continuous double-digit growth in the value of new life insurance business provides a steady stream of "ammunition."

From Ping An's management perspective, the capital market is currently in a window period for insurance fund allocation. On one hand, there is a policy breeze from regulators encouraging long-term funds to enter the market, and on the other hand, bank stocks are still at relatively low valuation levels.

When "low volatility and high dividends" become the market consensus, Ping An's increased stake in China Merchants Bank is essentially a significant bet by insurance funds on future certain returns.

Whether this "heavy dividend" strategy can outperform in the next cycle not only concerns Ping An's investment return rate but also serves as an important sample for observing the trends in the era of large asset management