BEIJING -- China trust industry reported steady expansion last year amid heightened efforts in its structural optimization and quality development push to better serve the real economy.

The country's total trust assets reached 21.14 trillion yuan ($3.09 trillion) by the end of the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022, up 2.87 percent year-on-year, data from the China Trustee Association (CTA) showed.

As of the end of Q4 2022, outstanding investments by trust funds into the industrial and commercial enterprises dropped 6.09 percent year-on-year to 3.91 trillion yuan.

Meanwhile, the share of trust assets managed by securities market and financial institutions continued to grow. CTA data showed that outstanding investments by trust funds into the securities market and financial institutions increased 29.84 percent and 7.79 percent year-on-year, respectively.