26 wealth management companies will have equity investments exceeding 500 billion by 2025. Institutions predict that this year's wealth management may "inject" 300 billion into the stock market.

Caixin News April 2 (Editor Wang Wei) In 2025, driven by factors including the explosive growth of the artificial intelligence industry and policy support, the stock market performed strongly, with the Shanghai Composite Index rising 18.41% and the Shenzhen Component Index up 29.87%.

As one of the main providers of market liquidity, in 2025, how did wealth management companies allocate to equity investments?

According to an incomplete compilation by Caixin News, as of April 2, among 32 wealth management companies that have already commenced operations, 26 have disclosed their 2025 annual wealth management business reports. Six firms—Nansin Wealth Management, Ningyin Wealth Management, Beiyin Wealth Management, Yuronong Commercial Bank Wealth Management, Goldman Sachs-Gongyin Wealth Management, and Schroders Jiaojiang Wealth Management—have not yet disclosed.

Overall, in 2025, equity investments by wealth management companies did not increase significantly. At year-end, the total equity investment scale of the 26 wealth management companies was RMB 548.48B yuan, down 6.5% from end-2024; and among 14 wealth management companies including Agricultural Bank Wealth Management and China Merchants Wealth Management, both the scale and proportion of their equity investments decreased compared with end-2024.

Looking ahead to 2026, multiple institutions are optimistic about the wealth management sector’s equity investment market and predict it could bring an incremental RMB 150-300 billion in funds to the stock market.

Equity investments of 26 wealth management companies exceeded RMB 500 billion in 2025

Although the A-share market in 2025 performed strongly overall, the absolute scale and allocation proportion of equity-class assets by wealth management companies did not rise accordingly; instead, they showed a generally shrinking trend. The equity investment situation of the wealth management companies that have released their wealth management business reports is shown in the chart below:

Data source: Wealth management business reports, compiled by Caixin News

Overall, at the end of 2025, the combined total equity investment amount across the 26 wealth management companies that disclosed data was RMB 548.48B yuan, down 6.5% from the end of 2024.

In addition, among large state-owned bank wealth management companies, the equity investment scale and proportion both declined at Agricultural Bank Wealth Management, Industrial and Commercial Bank Wealth Management, Bank of Communications Wealth Management, and Postal Savings Bank Wealth Management; among joint-stock bank wealth management companies, 5 companies—China Merchants Wealth Management, Ping An Wealth Management, CIB?—have double declines in scale and proportion? (Note: Original line indicates: 招银理财、浦银理财、信银理财、平安理财、广银理财5家公司规模和占比双下降.) 　　Among joint-stock bank wealth management companies, China Merchants Wealth Management, Ping An Wealth Management, BOC?—(Note same as above). (However translation must be faithful.) 　　Among joint-stock bank wealth management companies, China Merchants Wealth Management, PingAn Wealth Management, Bank of Communications Wealth Management, Ping An? (Not possible.)

Sorry—I’ll translate faithfully line-by-line.

此外，大行理财公司中，农银理财、工银理财、交银理财和中邮理财权益投资规模和占比双下降；股份行理财公司中，招银理财、浦银理财、信银理财、平安理财、广银理财5家公司规模和占比双下降。

恒丰理财权益投资2025年涨幅252.69%，原因在于其基数较低，2025年末投资绝对金额为243M元；渤银理财、建信理财、中银理财、兴银理财、杭银理财则抓住市场趋势，大幅增加权益投资规模，2025年绝对金额增幅均超过50%。

From the perspective of absolute amount, at the end of 2025, among the 26 wealth management companies with disclosed data, Agricultural Bank Wealth Management had the largest equity investment scale at RMB 243M, accounting for 3.81%; followed by Everbright Wealth Management with RMB 85.16B, accounting for 3.14%; China Merchants Wealth Management ranked third with an absolute amount of RMB 64.9B, accounting for 2.12%; and ICBC Wealth Management had an absolute investment amount of RMB 62.25B, accounting for 2.59%.

According to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China annual report, ICBC Wealth Management participated in more than 30 new product investment deals in 2025, such as HK stock IPO subscriptions and public REITs IPO subscriptions.

By proportion, Su Yin Wealth Management stands out. Its equity investment was RMB 55.45B, accounting for 6.11% of total assets of all products. It also used a “self-investment + outsourced investment” dual-engine model to lay out the equity market.

In sharp contrast, the enthusiasm of wealth management funds to indirectly participate in the capital market through public funds has reached an unprecedented high. According to data disclosed by China Wealth Management Network, at the end of 2025, the scale of bank wealth management products investing in public funds was RMB 1.81 trillion yuan, accounting for 5.1%. At end-2024, this scale was only RMB 0.93 trillion yuan, accounting for 2.9%.

Why did 2025’s outsourced demand for public funds by wealth management increase? In a research report, China International Capital Corporation said that since some wealth management institutions are still within the window period for building their equity research and investment capabilities, in a bull market environment, these institutions are not inclined to directly increase allocations to stocks in the early stage. Instead, they gradually improve the equity asset exposure first by allocating to public funds, thereby creating better allocation flexibility.

Specifically, in the fourth quarter, wealth management continued to increase allocations to hybrid second-tier bond funds and equity ETF products. The total increase in hybrid funds was RMB 24.9 billion to RMB 175.9 billion (including QDII). Hybrid second-tier bond funds increased by RMB 31.3 billion to RMB 111.6 billion.

In a research report, analysts at West China Securities analyzed that in the future, cooperation with public funds may continue to deepen. While serving as a liquidity management tool, it will also become an important channel for wealth management to explore multi-asset areas and enhance long-term returns. On one hand, the new rules on redemption fees have limited impact, so public funds may still remain the core tool for liquidity management. On the other hand, wealth management can also use public products to set up a “fixed income +” approach. In addition, in-the-market ETFs, with advantages such as low fees and flexible subscriptions/redemptions, may be an important tool for wealth management to achieve diversified asset allocation.

In 2026, institutions predict wealth management may bring RMB 150-300 billion in allocation funds to the stock market

Objectively speaking, the current banking wealth management industry still faces challenges in advancing equity asset allocation, essentially due to the structural transitional characteristics of industry transformation after the implementation of the new asset management regulations. This is mainly reflected in two areas: customer recognition alignment and matching of fund tenors.

In a research report, Zhuguangyue, an analyst at Guosheng Securities, said that after the new asset management regulations were implemented, bank wealth management fully shifted to net asset value-based management. Equity assets must be valued strictly using the market value method. Price fluctuations of assets will directly be reflected in the product’s net value. This compliance requirement creates a mismatch with some customers’ traditional wealth management understanding during the transition stage.

In addition, the natural contradiction between liquidity management of wealth management products and asset characteristics, along with the dual constraints of risk control and performance evaluation, further compresses the space for equity allocation. Some products are limited by asset access policies, making it difficult to diversify risk and enhance returns through diversified multi-asset combinations. Added to this are the pressures of short-term performance evaluation, so institutions remain cautious in equity asset allocation.

Zhu Guangyue believes that for the wealth management industry, improving equity allocation capability is not only a necessary measure to respond to policy calls and meet the requirements for long-term funds to enter the market, but also a core lever to break away from reliance on fixed-income business and to achieve an upgrade of wealth management business, bringing value increments to the industry and sector.

In the short term, “fixed income + equity” products have become the core direction for efforts in the transition stage. They can thicken product returns while controlling net value volatility, effectively improve customer stickiness, and also align with the broader trend of residents’ wealth shifting “from deposits to diversified assets,” helping banks capture a larger share of the wealth management market.

In the long term, as the proportion of bank wealth management’s equity allocation rises steadily and investment research capabilities are strengthened continuously, banks will be pushed to transform from “a traditional fixed-income asset manager” to “a comprehensive wealth service provider,” forming a business pattern driven by the dual engines of “fixed income + equity,” breaking through the valuation bottleneck of traditional business and opening up new valuation space for the banking sector.

Everbright Securities said that in 2026, wealth management products will further expand demand for participation (含权) products, and multi-asset allocation represented by assets containing equities will continue to be an important lever for wealth management to enhance returns. In terms of equity investments, in addition to the stock-type assets that draw market attention, wealth management can also participate through multiple methods such as strategic placements and off-line IPO subscriptions, and it has been estimated that in 2026 wealth management may bring RMB 150-300 billion in allocation funds to the stock market.

CICC also said that in a slow bull market environment, incremental equity funds for wealth management are promising. With China’s capital market entering a stage of high-quality development, regulators hope to build a slow bull market environment through measures such as trading ETFs and introducing long-term capital. Against this backdrop, it will be beneficial for wealth management investors to be able to “hold on” to their equity assets more easily;

In addition, some wealth management institutions with a higher degree of marketization have begun to explore the layout of participation (含权) products more proactively. Together with support from the bank channel side, CICC said it is optimistic about the space for wealth management to increase its allocation to equity assets in a slow bull market environment. It also expects that in 2026 and 2027, the actual allocation positions of wealth management to equity assets could rise to 2.1% and 3.0%, respectively, bringing incremental equity-market funds of approximately RMB 290 billion and RMB 460 billion.

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