① The Bank of Wuxi disclosed that the supervisory authority has approved Great Wall Life's shareholder status and agreed that Great Wall Life will increase its stock holdings within six months from the date of approval. ② Great Wall Life currently holds 4.54% of the shares in the Bank of Wuxi. Combined with the disclosure of this announcement, a subsequent listing will be a probable event. ③ It is rare for A-share banks to be listed by insurance capital. The last time was People's Insurance Insurance listed Huaxia Bank. If Great Wall Life is listed, it will be the first A-share case in 8 years.
Financial Services Association, December 28 (Reporter Zou Juntao) Will A Shares be a licensed insurance bank after a lapse of 8 years?
On the evening of December 28, the Bank of Wuxi (600908.SH) issued an announcement. The company received the “Approval from the Wuxi Regulatory Bureau of the State Financial Supervisory Authority on the Shareholder Eligibility of Great Wall Life Insurance Co., Ltd.”, approved the shareholder status of Great Wall Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (“Great Wall Life”), and agreed that Great Wall Life would increase its stock holdings within six months from the date of approval.
The screenshot is from the Bank of Wuxi issued an announcement
A Financial Services Association reporter noticed that Great Wall Life increased its holdings of the Bank of Wuxi several times during the year. By the end of the third quarter, the shareholding ratio had reached 4.54%, which is only one step away from listing. Currently, according to an announcement from the Bank of Wuxi, Great Wall Life has been approved to increase its holdings within the next six months. Judging from the move requiring supervision and approval of shareholders' qualifications, the subsequent listing will be a probable event.
A Financial Services Association reporter noticed that in recent years, insurance listed bank stocks are rare, and in particular, listed A-share bank stocks are even rarer. If Great Wall Life were to list the Bank of Wuxi in the future, it would be the first case in the A-share market in the past 8 years.
Supervision approved, Great Wall Life listed Bank of Wuxi as “everything ready”
According to Oriental Wealth Choice data, Great Wall Life increased its holdings of the Bank of Wuxi several times during the year.
According to the first quarterly report, Great Wall Life increased its holdings of the Bank of Wuxi by 40 million shares with its own capital, and the shareholding ratio after the increase was 4.14%; the interim report showed that Great Wall Life continued to increase its holdings of the Bank of Wuxi by 8.64 million shares with its own capital, and the shareholding ratio rose to 4.54% after increasing its holdings.
By the end of the third quarter of this year, Great Wall Life held a total of 97.65 million shares of the Bank of Wuxi, holding 4.54% of the shares, making it the fourth largest shareholder of the Bank of Wuxi. Judging from the shareholding ratio, Great Wall Life is already very close to listing.
According to Article 4 of the “Interim Measures on the Equity Management of Commercial Banks”, investors and their related parties or co-actors who individually or collectively intend to hold or cumulatively increase the total capital or total shares of commercial banks for the first time shall be reported to the Banking Regulatory Commission or its dispatched agency for approval in advance. Also, according to section 28 of the Commercial Banking Law, any entity or individual that purchases more than 5% of the total shares in a commercial bank shall obtain prior approval from the banking supervisory and regulatory agency under the State Council.
Judging from the content of the Bank of Wuxi announcement mentioned above and related regulations, if there are no surprises, then Great Wall Life will likely list the Bank of Wuxi next.
A Financial Services Association reporter noticed that Great Wall Life launched rapidly during the year. The company listed two A-share listed companies, Zhongyuan Expressway and Zhejiang Jiaotong Ke, at the same time in June of this year.
According to the official website, Great Wall Life is a national life insurance company established with the approval of the former China Insurance Regulatory Commission. The company was formally established on September 20, 2005, with a registered capital of 6.219 billion yuan and total assets exceeding 100 billion yuan. Beijing Huarong Comprehensive Investment Co., Ltd., controlled by the Beijing Xicheng District State-owned Assets Administration Commission, is its largest shareholder.
Insurance capital or re-listing an A-share bank after a lapse of 8 years?
According to data from the China Insurance Association, up to now, there have been 9 cases of insurance capital listing during the year, but there have been no cases where insurance funds have listed bank stocks.
Furthermore, the Financial Services Association reporter noticed that looking at the overall trend of insurance capital listing in recent years, A-share bank stocks continue to be “treated coldly” by insurance capital, while Hong Kong stock banks have been repeatedly listed by insurance capital.
Among them, 2020 was also a “big year” for insurance companies to list Hong Kong stock banks. In this year, Centennial Life listed the H shares of Zheshang Bank, Taiping Life listed the H shares of the Agricultural Bank, and the H shares of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. Since then, insurance listed bank stocks have once again “gone silent.” The most recent bank shares listed by insurance were in November 2022. Taiping Life increased its holdings of ICBC H shares.
According to data from the China Insurance Association, the most recent case of insurance capital listing of an A-share bank occurred on December 28, 2015. People's Insurance Insurance announced the listing of Huaxia Bank. It has been 8 years since then.