In the first half of 2024, the entire Chinese trust industry saw a significant decline in performance, with revenue and profit decreasing by 30% and 40% respectively compared to the same period last year.
On November 15th, the China Trust Association released an analysis of the development of the Chinese trust industry in the first half of 2024 on its official website.
The data disclosed in the analysis shows that in the first half of this year, the industry’s performance notably decreased. The Chinese trust industry achieved operating income of 33.253 billion yuan, a decrease of 32.73% year-on-year, and a total profit of 19.588 billion yuan, a decrease of 40.63% year-on-year.
According to Caixin’s news on November 16th, overall, the scale of trust assets in the Chinese trust industry continued to stabilize and rise, with fund allocations following a trend of “two increases and three decreases”: the proportion of investments in the securities market and financial institutions increased, while investments in industrial and commercial enterprises, basic industries, and real estate decreased.
Specifically, as of the end of the second quarter of 2024, the scale and proportion of funds invested in the securities market and financial institutions continued to rise. The trust balance invested in the securities market (including stocks, bonds, and funds) reached 8.34 trillion yuan, an increase of 64.89% year-on-year, accounting for 41.81%. The trust funds invested in financial institutions amounted to 2.96 trillion yuan, a 34.93% increase year-on-year, accounting for 14.83%.
At the same time, traditional trust business in the fields of industrial and commercial enterprises, basic industries, and real estate continued to decline. As of the end of the second quarter, the total trust funds invested in industrial and commercial enterprises reached 3.87 trillion yuan, a 1.07% increase year-on-year, accounting for 19.39%; trust funds invested in basic industries amounted to 1.63 trillion yuan, an 8.05% increase year-on-year, accounting for 8.19%; trust funds invested in real estate totaled 919.182 billion yuan, a 12.37% decrease year-on-year, accounting for 4.61%.
Regarding owner’s equity, compared to the same period in 2023, the overall scale slightly increased. As of the end of the second quarter of 2024, the owner’s equity of trust companies amounted to 755.422 billion yuan, an increase of 6.907 billion yuan compared to the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, and an increase of 10.526 billion yuan compared to the same period in 2023, with a year-on-year growth rate of 1.41%.
In response to this, Liang Guangyong, a special researcher at the China Trust Association, analyzed that due to the constraints of the times, non-standard financing represented by financing-type trust business has been the main business model of trust companies for some time. However, with the rapid expansion of business scale and economic cycle fluctuations, the weaknesses of this business model have begun to emerge, highlighting the mismatch of roles of trust companies in this type of business model.
Liang Guangyong believes that trust companies need to recognize both the current opportunities and challenges, focus on the long term, avoid seeking quick profits, and resist the temptation of short-term gains. Shareholders of trust companies need to have the right motives for investing, correctly understand the unique role of trust companies as financial institutions and trustees, and firmly prevent the abuse of shareholder rights and unwarranted interference in company operations and development.