SAFE Investment Company Limited (SAFE Investment; ) is a Chinese

sovereign wealth fund A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), or sovereign investment fund, is a state-owned investment fund that invests in real and financial assets such as stocks, Bond (finance), bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such as ...

based in Hong Kong. It is a subsidiary of the

State Administration of Foreign Exchange The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) of the People's Republic of China is an administrative agency under the State Council tasked with drafting rules and regulations governing foreign exchange market activities, and managing the ...

(SAFE) and manages one third of China's

foreign exchange reserves Foreign exchange reserves (also called forex reserves or FX reserves) are cash and other reserve assets such as gold and silver held by a central bank or other monetary authority that are primarily available to balance payments of the country, ...

History

SAFE established four offshore investment offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, London and New York known as the 'four golden flowers'. SAFE Investment was set up one month before the

Handover of Hong Kong The handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China was at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony, which began in 1841. Hong Kong was established as a specia ...

in July 1997 with a registered capital of HKD 100 million. It was set up to "support and promote the development of Hong Kong’s financial market" as well as defend the value of the

Renminbi The renminbi ( ; currency symbol, symbol: Yen and yuan sign, ¥; ISO 4217, ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB), also known as the Chinese yuan, is the official currency of the China, People's Republic of China. The renminbi is issued by the Peop ...

and

Hong Kong dollar The Hong Kong dollar (, sign: HK$; code: HKD) is the official currency of Hong Kong. It is divided into 100 cents. Historically, it was also divided into 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong an ...

's peg to the

US dollar The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

against international speculators. The name of SAFE Investment in Chinese signifies the wish for the nation's security. Following the

1997 Asian financial crisis The 1997 Asian financial crisis gripped much of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. The crisis began in Thailand in July 1997 before spreading to several other countries with a ripple effect, raising fears of a worldwide eco ...

, SAFE Investment served largely as a minor outpost for Safe with only about $20 billion in

assets under management In finance, assets under management (AUM), sometimes called fund under management, refers to the total market value of all financial assets that a financial institution—such as a mutual fund, venture capital firm, or depository institutio ...

(AUM). However SAFE Investment gradually increased its AUM and took more risk in managing reserves compared to its peers in other countries. SAFE Investment was delegated to manage foreign exchange reserves as well as invest in wide a range of financial instruments. SAFE Investment was assigned as the primary entity to invest in offshore equities. Despite SAFE Investment's large scale of investments, it has a low and secretive profile with few knowing about it. In 2008, SAFE Investment was one of the largest customers for local Treasury bond trading desks at banks such as

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

. SAFE Investment attracted attention due to a series of high-profile investments. In January, it was reported that had acquired small equity stakes in Australian banks ANZ,

Commonwealth Bank The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), also known as Commonwealth Bank or simply CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of fi ...

and

National Australia Bank National Australia Bank Limited (abbreviated NAB, branded and stylised as nab) is one of the four largest Banking in Australia, financial institutions in Australia (colloquially referred to as "Big Four (banking), The Big Four") in terms of mar ...

. The acquisition raised new questions over the transparency of the investment as well as speculation that the Chinese were in the market to take more major stakes in overseas banks. In March 2009, it was reported that SAFE Investment had invested in British companies such as Rio Tinto,

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...

, BP,

Barclays Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

and

RBS RBS may refer to: Arts and media * Grupo RBS, Brazilian media group ** RBS TV * Republic Broadcasting System (RBS TV), now GMA Network, owned by GMA Network Inc., Philippines * RBS TV (Latvia), a defunct Latvian television station * ''Red Band ...

in the previous year. Due to the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

, billions were lost as a result of the markets collapsing. In January 2025,

People's Bank of China The People's Bank of China (officially PBC and unofficially PBOC) is the central bank of the People's Republic of China. It is responsible for carrying out monetary policy as determined by the ''PRC People's Bank Law'' and the ''PRC Commercia ...

governor Pan Gongsheng said the central bank would 'significantly increase' the allocation of the nation's reserves to Hong Kong. This led to speculation that SAFE Investment could potentially be managing more of China's reserves in the future.

References

{{authority control Chinese companies established in 1997 Companies of Hong Kong Financial services companies established in 1997 Financial services companies of Hong Kong Government-owned companies of Hong Kong Investment management companies of China Sovereign wealth funds