[1]: 152  In 1988, SAFE was elevated to report directly to the State Council, but remained under People's Bank of China's management.

[1]: 153  Historically, its lead executive has also generally held the position of vice governor of the People's Bank of China.

[1]: 5 SAFE's existence and role were initially closely guarded secrets, its subsidiaries were minor, but the funds under management have increased significantly in recent years.

They were responsible for running SAFE's portfolio across the various time zones, replicating the investments of head office in Beijing.

[1]: 136 With the burgeoning of China's reserves and amidst increasing rivalry between state agencies, there are signs of growing independence of and competition between the subsidiaries.

Most of China's currency reserves are invested in high grade U.S.-dollar-denominated debt, such as U.S. Treasuries, though as early as 2007 it was estimated that SAFE held $100 billion worth of U.S. mortgage-backed securities, hoping to achieve higher returns than those on U.S.

[9] "The Hong Kong subsidiary is notably taking more risk in managing reserves," according to an informed source.

[15] Brad Setser, speaking in March 2009 said losses as a result of this diversification at the peak of the market "would exceed US$80 billion.

"[15] Brad Setser said:"SAFE has built up one of the largest US equity portfolios of any foreign government entity investing abroad, including the major sovereign wealth funds....It appears SAFE began diversifying into equities early in 2007 and, rather than being deterred by the subprime crisis, it continued to buy.