(Yicai) Nov. 18 -- The balance of China's trust assets soared for the ninth consecutive quarter to a new record of CNY27 trillion (USD3.73 trillion) at the end of the second quarter, according to the latest official data.

As of June 30, China's trust assets value soared nearly 25 percent from a year earlier and almost 13 percent from the end of last year, according to data released by the China Trustee Association on Nov. 15.

Trust funds had invested CNY8.34 trillion (USD1.15 trillion) in securities assets as of the end of the second quarter, up by CNY3.28 trillion from a year earlier and CNY1.74 trillion from the end of last year, the data also showed. Their investment in financial institutions and industrial and commercial enterprises totaled CNY2.96 trillion and CNY3.87 trillion, respectively.

China's infrastructure investment showed signs of recovery in the first half, increasing by 5.4 percent from a year earlier. However, real estate investment remained low. As of June 30, the scale of trust assets invested in real estate was CNY919.2 billion (USD126.9 billion), down CNY129.7 billion or 12.4 percent from a year earlier and CNY54.7 billion (USD7.6 billion) or 1 percent from the end of last year.

In terms of operating revenue and profit, the Chinese trust industry experienced sharp declines. The earnings plunged almost 33 percent to CNY33.3 billion and 41 percent to CNY19.6 billion, respectively, as of June 30 from a year earlier.

One of the main reasons for the continuous pressure on companies' profitability is the outflow of funds from sectors such as infrastructure, real estate, and industrial enterprises with high returns into standardized financial asset investments with lower yields, said Zhai Lihong, head of the Trust and Financial Management Institute of the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics.

Editor: Futura Costaglione