On July 4th, the CITIC Equity Investment Alliance ecosystem was officially launched at the 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference's investment and financing theme forum. Over 800 representatives from approximately 200 member units of the CITIC Equity Investment Alliance, well-known domestic equity investment institutions, and technology innovation companies attended the forum, discussing the mutual advancement of finance and technology, and using venture capital strength to illuminate the path of technological innovation.

A week prior, seven departments including the People's Bank of China jointly issued the "Work Plan for Solidly Doing a Good Job in Technology Finance," proposing to "encourage the establishment of technology finance alliances across regions, and support exchanges and cooperation among various financial institutions and technology intermediary service organizations." The CITIC Equity Investment Alliance ecosystem is the first to aggregate a full financial license of "equity loans, bonds, and insurance" after the issuance of the plan, with a fund management scale exceeding 300 billion yuan, establishing a "raising, investing, managing, and exiting" full chain collaboration, and serving the cooperation and win-win in the forefront of science and technology fields. In the future, it will focus on investing early, investing small, investing long-term, and investing in hard technology, helping more technology companies with core competitiveness to grow.

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Zhang Wenwu, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Vice Chairman, and General Manager of CITIC Group, said in his speech at the forum that technological changes represented by artificial intelligence technology have not only provided a broad blue ocean for enterprise development but also put forward higher requirements for the guarantee capacity of financial services. CITIC Group has a full range of financial resources and multi-field industrial application scenarios. In recent years, it has always insisted on "grasping with both hands and advancing together." On the one hand, it aggregates financial resources to fully serve the development of the artificial intelligence industry and the development of technology innovation enterprises. On the other hand, it focuses on technology application, promotes the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and has achieved rich results. In terms of financial service development of science and technology, CITIC further strengthens the functions of equity financing, credit services, cross-border service capabilities, and intelligent driving, using comprehensive advantages to implement "equity loans, bonds, and insurance" to support the development of science and technology. In terms of the application of artificial intelligence technology, CITIC continuously improves the innovation system, promotes the transformation and upgrading of industries, and aims to build a technology-based outstanding enterprise group, actively promoting the deep integration of artificial intelligence and traditional industries.

Wang Guoquan, a member of the Party Committee and Deputy General Manager of CITIC Group, made a keynote speech on the topic of "Mutual Advancement to Create a New Paradigm for Technology Financial Services." He said that as a comprehensive enterprise group that combines industry and finance, CITIC Group takes the mission of practicing national strategies and assisting national rejuvenation, always adheres to the political nature and people-oriented nature of financial work, and fully leverages the advantages of comprehensive financial services according to the characteristics and needs of technology innovation enterprises. It focuses on building a technology financial service system dominated by equity investment and the linkage of "equity, loans, bonds, and insurance," forming a "industry + finance + ecosystem" new model with CITIC characteristics. Next, CITIC Group will increase equity investment, optimize credit supply, amplify bond potential, build a defense line, and improve the collaborative ecosystem, making more pragmatic efforts to create a "CITIC model" for technology finance, and striving to make new contributions to accelerating the development of new quality productive forces and assisting in the construction of Chinese-style modernization.

At the forum, the CITIC Equity Investment Alliance service system was officially released, and the CITIC Equity Investment Alliance ecosystem was launched. Cao Guoqiang, General Manager of CITIC Financial Holdings, said that as one of the first domestic financial holding companies, CITIC Financial Holdings actively practices the concept of "one CITIC, one customer." The CITIC Equity Investment Alliance is also a working mechanism established after the establishment of CITIC Financial Holdings, which gathers the professional strength of the group's equity investment institutions, focusing on strategic emerging industries such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, new materials, and high-end equipment, with a cumulative investment service for more than a thousand enterprises, using venture capital strength to illuminate the path of technological innovation, and guiding more financial resources to invest in technology innovation enterprises.

Equity - Gather professional strength to provide full-chain market services

It is reported that the member units of the CITIC Equity Investment Alliance include CITIC Bank, CITIC Trust, CITIC Prudential Life, Jinshi Investment, CITIC Construction Investment Capital, CITIC Investment Holdings, and other financial and industrial companies under CITIC. The CITIC Equity Investment Alliance strengthens internal collaboration while actively expanding the venture capital industry circle of friends, introducing external investment institutions, and creating a technology finance ecosystem.

In terms of equity services in the capital market, CITIC Securities and CITIC Construction Investment Securities, as leading domestic capital market securities firms, fully leverage their professional advantages to provide customers with a full range of equity financing services such as IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, refinancing, and market value management. CITIC's securities firms rank first in the market in terms of the number and scale of IPO projects on the STAR Market and the Growth Enterprise Market, first in the market in terms of the number and scale of IPO projects on the Beijing Stock Exchange, and first in the market in terms of the number of IPOs serving national specialized and sophisticated enterprises. They are firmly in the first echelon of serving technology enterprise equity financing.

Loans - Innovate exclusive technology innovation credit products to accurately solve financing needsInnovative enterprises, growing from "golden seeds" to "skyscraping trees," still face challenges such as difficulty and high cost in financing. To address the financing pain points of tech companies, CITIC Bank has optimized its credit logic, moving away from the approval logic that solely relies on the "three financial statements," and focusing more on forward-looking indicators such as corporate patents, scientific research achievements, and performance growth. They have innovatively introduced the "scorecard approval" model, assigning credit scores to corporate executives, intellectual property rights, and technological qualifications, providing financing for 1,700 companies in total.

Furthermore, CITIC Bank has launched a fully online, unsecured "Tech Innovation e-loan," a "Torch Loan" based on the Ministry of Science and Technology's corporate innovation scoring system, a "Technology Achievement Transformation Loan" aimed at incubated enterprises from research institutes and universities, and a "Listing Relay Loan" for tech companies planning to go public. In 2023, CITIC Bank's tech finance credit customers exceeded 30,000, leading the industry in growth rate, with tailored credit services that accurately address the financing pain points of innovative enterprises.

Bonds - Building a comprehensive bond product issuance capability, implementing market benchmark projects

As the second-largest social financing channel after bank credit, the bond market provides a strong impetus for innovative enterprises. CITIC Securities and its affiliates actively explore innovative products such as intellectual property securitization and supply chain finance, continuously accumulating practical experience in serving technological innovation.

In terms of innovation bonds, CITIC Securities and its affiliates have underwritten a scale exceeding 500 billion yuan, implementing a number of market benchmark projects: issuing the first special integrated circuit innovation bond on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, aiding industrial transformation and upgrading; serving several state-owned enterprises in their first issuance of innovation bonds, aiding the expansion of strategic emerging industries; issuing the first "Technology Innovation + Rural Revitalization" corporate bond in the market, supporting regional economic development. In addition, relying on the CITIC "Peer +" platform, various financial subsidiaries of CITIC have connected with over 2,900 domestic banks, securities, funds, and wealth management companies, supporting the entire process of bond investment, underwriting, transfer, and sales, and working together to expand the bond ecosystem.

Guarantees - Building a guarantee and risk-sharing system, providing exclusive insurance services

Guarantees play a key role in credit enhancement and risk dispersion between financial institutions and tech companies. At the national level, a special guarantee plan for technological innovation has been introduced to guide financial resources towards the field of technological innovation. CITIC has actively responded, taking the Jiangsu region as an example, where CITIC Bank's Nanjing branch and Wuxi Municipal Guolian Guarantee have jointly created a special credit product "Pearl Loan," introducing state-owned guarantee companies to implement a "see loan and guarantee" policy, providing convenient financing support for specialized and innovative tech companies.

At the same time, CITIC Prudential Life Insurance uses long-term insurance funds to accompany the growth of enterprises, launching exclusive group insurance for innovative companies, providing full life cycle insurance protection for corporate employees, and contributing to the "passing on the torch and building a foundation for the future" of innovative finance.

In the future, CITIC Group will continue to optimize the tech financial service ecosystem, providing full-license, full-scenario, and full-cycle financial services for tech companies, doing well in serving the real economy as a "required answer," cultivating and strengthening new quality productive forces, and contributing the "CITIC strength" to the country's high-level self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology, and the construction of a strong country.