By Dai Qi
Eight financial firms were entrusted with occupational annuity by China's state organizations and institutions, according to the social security authority on Tuesday.
Seven institutions are officially entrusted including the China Life Pension Company Limited, the Ping An Pension Insurance Corp, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, the Taikang Pension Insurance Co., Ltd., the CCB Pension Management Co., Ltd., the Taiping Pension Insurance Co., Ltd. and the Changjiang Pension Insurance Co., Ltd.
Another company, the China Merchants Bank Co., Ltd., was enrolled as a candidate.
An occupational annuity is a complement to a primary pension insurance system targeting the functionaries in the state organizations and institutions.
Insiders said that it provided an excellent opportunity for the financial market.
It was estimated that the market value of the occupational annuity was expected to reach up to RMB 1 trillion, "which had become a strategic target for many financial institutions so that there would be fierce competition," as put by China Merchants Fund.
China began putting the occupational annuity into the financial marketplace in October 2016, when the country issued a regulatory document on its management.
In December 2017, eight financial institutions were entrusted in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which was the first of its kind in China.
At the end of June this year, Shandong Province also released its list of entrusted companies.
Meanwhile, corporate annuity has seen a rapid growth as well.
According to statistics from the social security authority, in 2017, the corporate annuity accumulation fund amounted to about RMB 1.29 trillion, representing a year-on-year increase of more than 16 percent, and the growth rate was similar to that of last year.
The number of employees participating was about 23.31 million last year, representing a slight increase when compared with that of 2016, with a record low.
