Wealth Management Products' Public Fund Holdings Reach RMB 2.52 Trillion, 7% Share Record by End-June 2026

As of end-June 2026, total investment assets of wealth management products stood at RMB 36 trillion, with public fund allocations reaching RMB 2.52 trillion, up 1.9 percentage points from the start of the year to 7.0%, a record high. This made public funds the fourth-largest asset class, after bonds, cash and bank deposits, and negotiable certificates of deposit (NCDs).

Over the longer term, the share of bond-type assets in wealth management products fell from 64.26% at end-2020 to 41.6% by mid-2026. Non-standard credit assets declined from 10.89% to 5.1%, and equity assets from 4.75% to 1.9%. Meanwhile, cash and bank deposits rose from 9.05% to 28.1%, and public funds from 2.81% to 7.0%. Since 2025, the pace of additional public fund allocations has accelerated, with cumulative investment rising by about RMB 1.59 trillion and the share up 4.4 percentage points. In the second quarter of 2026, wealth management products added approximately RMB 0.57 trillion in public funds, lifting holdings from RMB 1.95 trillion to RMB 2.52 trillion, while the share rose 1.3 percentage points quarter-on-quarter.

By sub-category, bond funds dominate the public funds held by wealth management products, while hybrid, equity, money market, QDII and alternative investment funds remain limited. Additional allocations have concentrated on medium- to long-term pure bond funds, followed by short-term bond funds.

The traditional asset allocation space for wealth management products continues to narrow. By end-June 2026, allocations to NCDs had fallen by RMB 1.25 trillion from end-2025, with the share down 3.6 percentage points. High-quality non-standard assets remain scarce, and some wealth management companies have made zero new non-standard allocations.

In the near term, the allocation strategy for public funds has turned more conservative. The equity market adjustment has significantly dampened issuance of "fixed income plus" products, cooling demand for funds with equity exposure. Since July, the 7-day pledged repo rate has been slightly above 1.4%, and with short-end rates trading in a narrow range, the yield advantage of short-term bond funds has faded. The amortized-cost bond funds preferred by wealth management capital still depend on the pace of new product approvals for overall scale growth, and the scale of amortized-cost bond funds entering open periods from August to December is set to decline month by month.