A man applies for social insurance at the local social security center in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, in May 2014. (Photo : www.globaltimes.cn)
China’s state-owned entities have shown their interests in the growth potential of Internet finance market as they buy stakes in some major private companies, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
A senior official of the national Social Security Fund (SSF) has revealed at a fund industry forum on June 18, Thursday, that the agency recently bought a 5-percent stake in Ant Financial Services Group, the Internet finance affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
"The value of Internet finance in China's securitization market will double in the near future, and the SSF has realized its great potential," Wang Zhongmin, vice president of the national council for the SSF was quoted as saying.
Without specifying the exact amount of the investment, Wang said that the stakes is SSF's first investment in a private company.
Ant Financial had reportedly confirmed the information on its official Sina Weibo account on the same day the investment was made.
The report said that Ant Financial had also sold smaller stakes to other state entities, such as China Development Bank Capital Co. and China Life Insurance Co. earlier this month.
Launched in Oct. 2014, Ant Financial Services Group was tasked to manage Alibaba financial services entities and tap more deeply into the profitable financial market, mainly focusing on small businesses and individual consumers.
On the other hand, the SFF was founded in 2000 to support elder-care services and to serve as a reserve fund for social security spending in the future as the country's ageing population grows.
According to the SSF's annual report for 2014, the fund had invested 170 billion yuan ($23.2 billion) in the equity market, with an 8.38-percent return on investment on a yearly basis.
