How do you view the future trend of the entire equity market, what is the prospect of real estate investment, what pressures and challenges are there now, and what will Ping An’s asset management do in the future? On the afternoon of March 18, Deng Bin, who had been the chief investment officer (CIO) of Ping An for only a few months, was interviewed by reporters after the company’s 2021 results conference. 
Deng Bin< /p>Worked in the system in the early years, then went to the United States to study and work, was sent to Hong Kong, and then returned to work in China. Deng Bin bluntly said that his “experience is still relatively rich and relatively complete.” He told the news that from the previous job to the present, different companies have the same position, one grew up in Shanghai and the other grew up in Shenzhen. The rich cultural and historical characteristics it brings are reflected in the entire management, which is very interesting. This also makes him feel that he can learn a lot in the two environments, and it is an eye-opening process. Being able to serve the third and second largest insurance companies in China successively is a very rare opportunity in life.
In January this year, Ping An issued an announcement saying that the company’s board of directors decided to appoint Deng Bin as the company’s chief investment officer, and Deng Bin’s qualifications are yet to be approved by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. Deng Bin was previously the chief investment officer of China Pacific Insurance. With his arrival, Chen Dexian, who has served as the chief investment officer of China Ping An for 10 years, stepped back and continued to serve as the director of the investment management committee of Ping An Group, responsible for the middle and backstage of the investment line. management.
There are currently two pressures, mainly structural pressure and immediate short-term pressure
March 18, Deng Bin at China Ping An 2021 At the annual results conference, he answered questions about Ping An’s investment risk exposure and asset allocation strategy. This can be said to be Deng Bin’s “first show” after he came to Ping An.
Deng Bin has a very rich personal experience. He worked in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation in his early years. After studying in the United States, he successively served as the market risk management Asia Pacific region of American International Group (AIG). Director (excluding Japan and South Korea), Director of Investment Analysis and Derivatives of AIA Group, and later Chief Investment Officer of China Pacific Insurance. Peace of mind for the first time, how much pressure?
“In the past few years when the whole market looked at Ping An, there were indeed various comments. The current pressure can be seen from two aspects, one is structural pressure, one is immediate short-term stress. Structural pressure is how to make the whole market understand Ping An more correctly. “Deng Bin said in an interview that structural pressure, in short, is how to truly make the market more aware of the core value of insurance.
He said that Ping An The comprehensive investment rate of return in the past 10 years is 5.7% annualized, which is a very beautiful figure. This is a figure that crosses the economic cycle. Ping An’s asset-liability duration gap management is in the leading ranks in the world. How to let the market and investors have confidence in us through this, and look at insurance, insurance investment, and insurance companies from a long-term perspective, this is a lot of pressure. Therefore, we need to keep doing work and tell everyone What I bring you is long-term stable and predictable returns.
Talking about short-term pressure, Deng Bin pointed out, that is, how in a volatile market environment, It still brings a relatively reasonable and relatively good return on investment in 2022. Ping An’s beta (β) is relatively low to the market, and if the market is not good, Ping An is the one that is relatively stable and safe. What if the market gets better? Ping An will generate higher returns by creating more alpha (alpha) through tactical allocation and coupon selection.
Deng Bin emphasized that this is what he will strengthen in the future, that is, select good projects, good investment targets, make a disciplined tactical configuration, and increase more by generating alpha (alpha). Return on investment. As far as investment is concerned, we usually talk about the “four Ps”, namely philosophy (idea), policies (policy), people (people), and process (process). If these are achieved, there will be good results. .
I am interested in actively exploring whether to increase the investment allocation of PE, and I am still optimistic about real estate
When taking up its new role in Ping An, Ping An of China once announced that, Deng Bin will work closely with Chen Dexian, director of the Investment Management Committee, and Zhang Xiaolu, chief risk officer, to further consolidate the group’s “three-in-one” investment management system.
Deng Bin told the news that the “trinity” structure is of great benefit to Ping An’s risk management. During normal project management, discussions within Ping An are very lively, sometimes even fierce. Everyone is looking at where the risks of a project are from a professional point of view, whether they should be avoided, and where to do it. Improvements, etc. After coming to Ping An, I really experiencedMany very professional and in-depth discussions.
In recent years, the regulatory authorities have issued several documents to encourage insurance funds to participate in equity investment. As far as the group is concerned, Ping An has also initiated the establishment of two private equity managers. Deng Bin told the news that he is very interested in further active exploration on whether to increase the investment allocation of PE. However, the PE market is a very complex market. It can be said that the good and the bad are mixed, and it is very important to do a good job of screening and finding a good track.
“I’m not throwing peppermint on any market, my PE must be related to my main business, it’s better to bring it to me The synergistic effect is best related to insurance technology, medical health, pension, etc. Deng Bin said that the management of PE is an investment channel with very high professional requirements for the process of “financing, investment, management, and withdrawal”. Ping An must cooperate with The best PE companies with good historical performance, professional and stable teams and visionary leaders cooperate with the top PE companies.
For the stock market, Deng Bin pointed out We have witnessed the Sino-US trade friction since 2018, the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, and the great growth of the epidemic economy after 2021. We are still in the post-epidemic stage. This year, the stock market has The retracement, but generally speaking, as a long-term investor, Ping An has a long-term stock allocation, which is a framework for strategic asset allocation, and Ping An will not greatly increase or decrease in a certain asset class. The strategic allocation of the macroeconomic cycle is Ping An’s long-term determination.
“The most important thing in the allocation of insurance funds is not the investment income of one month, one quarter or one year, but the most important thing. It is a long-term configuration, and our configuration I call it a ‘double dumbbell’ structure,” Deng Bin said. One end of the first dumbbell is a large number of long-term interest rate bonds, which can form strong and stable assets and liabilities and cash flow. Match. The other end of the dumbbell is risk assets, including more than 10% equity investment. Generally speaking, very safe assets account for a large proportion, and there are also a certain amount of risky assets that can bring high returns. This is a balance.
The second dumbbell is in risk assets. Ping An has a large number of high-dividend value investments, such as investments in several bank stocks. There are also growth investments, namely The beta (β) is relatively high and the volatility is relatively large, which is another balance. Deng Bin explained that this makes Ping An better balanced when there are major fluctuations in the stock market, so Ping An’s overall stock investment beta ( β) Compared with the CSI 300 Index, it is much lower than 1.