National Pension Insurance quietly initiates capital increase of 470 million shares, poised to become the industry leader in registered capital.

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On October 13, National Pension Insurance publicly announced its capital increase plan at the Beijing Equity Exchange, intending to issue no more than 471 million shares. All funds raised will be used to supplement core Tier 1 capital and support main business development.

At present, National Pension’s registered capital has accumulated to 11.378 billion yuan, ranking second among 10 pension insurance companies;

Although the price of the new shares has not been disclosed, if estimated at 1 yuan per share, National Pension’s registered capital after the capital increase may rise to 11.849 billion yuan, surpassing Ping An Pension to become the pension insurance company with the highest registered capital volume.

The “arms race” on the capital side has become the norm in the pension insurance industry in recent years.

According to incomplete statistics, since 2024, more than four pension insurance companies have disclosed capital increase plans:

Taikang Pension announced twice, in April 2024 and June 2025, that Taikang Group would increase capital by 2 billion yuan, intending to raise registered capital by 4 billion yuan to 11 billion yuan;

Taiping Pension announced the introduction of Belgium’s Ageas Group as a strategic investor with a 10% stake in exchange for an investment of 1.075 billion yuan, raising registered capital to 3 billion yuan;

Heng’an Standard Pension was approved to increase capital by 200 million yuan, raising registered capital to 400 million yuan;

National Pension, in this round of capital increase, also introduced its first foreign shareholder in 2024—Allianz Investment—raising its registered capital from 11.15 billion yuan to 11.378 billion yuan.

Frequent increases in registered capital are intended not only to ensure solvency, but also to fuel future business expansion.

Xinfeng notes that although the solvency levels of the above-mentioned frequently recapitalized pension insurance companies are all above the regulatory “passing line”, some insurance companies have experienced continued losses and significant declines in solvency adequacy ratios;

The “Interim Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Pension Insurance Companies” issued by the Financial Regulatory Administration in 2023, stipulates requirements on the business scope and minimum registered capital in the industry, clearly stating that pension insurance companies engaging in pension fund management should have registered capital of over 3 billion yuan.

However, for National Pension, the significance of the capital increase may lie more in introducing new shareholders and achieving strategic synergy:

As of the end of the second quarter, National Pension’s core and comprehensive solvency adequacy ratios were 590.78% and 603.72%, respectively, down by 10.35 and 10.22 percentage points from the previous quarter, but still at high levels;

For this capital increase, National Pension has clarified that none of the existing shareholders will participate and that no more than five new investors will be solicited.

Currently, National Pension has a total of 18 shareholders, mainly bank wealth management subsidiaries and their affiliated companies, securities and insurance institutions, and industrial investors;

Among them, eight shareholders each hold more than 5% of shares: ICBC Wealth Management, ABC Wealth Management, BOC Wealth Management, CCB Wealth Management, BoCom Wealth Management, Beijing Infrastructure Investment, Guoxin Capital, and China Post Wealth Management.

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