Munich Re has revealed that the Chinese agency charged with managing the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves has become one of its most significant shareholders.
China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange, a division of the central bank, had amassed a stake of just over 3 per cent, Munich Re said on Thursday. The German reinsurer is the world’s largest provider of reinsurance, measured by the volume of premiums charged annually.
The composition of China’s almost $3,200bn in foreign exchange reserves is seen as a state secret and Safe goes to great lengths to disguise its purchases and portfolio positions around the world, rarely allowing its holdings in publicly listed companies to rise above disclosure thresholds.