China's Social Security fund has earned 60 billion yuan (US$7.5 billion) from its investments in the Bank of Communication, the Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

"The Social Security Fund is one of the most important institutional investors in the Chinese capital market and has a number of advantages over ordinary institutional investors," said Xiang Huaicheng, chairman of the National Social Security Fund Council on Monday,

Xiang said that, as a pension fund, the Social Security Fund must secure itself against losses and avoid risky high-return investments.

The fund earned 12.14 billion yuan (US$1.52 billion) from its investments in the first nine months of the year, at a yield of 6.01 percent, said Xiang.

The fund's total assets reached 255.4 billion yuan at the end of September.

Statistics show that the fund achieved an aggregated yield of 11.82 percent from 2000 to 2004, outperforming the inflation rate for the same period but still short of the 13.66-percent interest rate of five-year treasury bonds.

The Social Security Fund was established in 2000 as part of China's effort to build up a national social security network to cope with the growing needs of its aging population.

(Xinhua News Agency November 6, 2006)