ETF Custody Assets Fall to RMB 4.45 Trillion; Top Five Share 65.34%, Brokerages 18.90%

As of August 17, 2026, total ETF custody assets across the market stood at approximately RMB 4.45 trillion, involving 50 custodian institutions. Compared with the peak of about RMB 5.59 trillion at the start of the year, the industry contracted by more than RMB 1.14 trillion. The combination of shrinking scale and intensifying competition has reshaped the ETF custody landscape, with concentration among top institutions easing and the custody scale of brokerage firms rising.

Looking at the top tier, the five largest custodians by assets are, in order, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China Merchants Bank, China Construction Bank, Bank of China, and Industrial Bank, together holding about RMB 2.91 trillion, a market share of 65.34%. ICBC led with RMB 675.567 billion, followed by China Merchants Bank at RMB 668.698 billion and China Construction Bank at RMB 659.798 billion. Bank of China ranked fourth with RMB 524.673 billion, and Industrial Bank fifth with RMB 385.503 billion. The top ten custodians collectively held RMB 3.72 trillion, representing 83.67% of the market, of which seven were banking institutions. The top twenty custodians held approximately RMB 4.30 trillion, a 96.74% share.

Compared with the start of the year, top-tier concentration has clearly declined. At that time, the top five held 74.14%, the top ten 89.44%, and the top twenty 98.07%. Over the past six months, the top five share fell by nearly 9 percentage points, the top ten by nearly 6 percentage points, and ICBC's share dropped from 25.03% to 15.19%, a decline of close to 10 percentage points. By institution type among the top twenty, banking institutions' share fell from 85.43% to 77.84%, while brokerage firms' share rose from 12.64% to 18.90%. The composition of the top nine institutions remained stable, still comprising the five major state-owned banks, China Merchants Bank, Industrial Bank, CITIC Securities, and Guotai Haitong. The tenth position changed, with GF Securities surpassing Huatai Securities to enter the top ten.

Large-scale redemptions of broad-based ETFs were the core driver of the shrinkage in custody assets. In 2026, the ten ETFs with the largest net outflows each exceeded RMB 40 billion, and all were broad-based products. Among them, the Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF saw net outflows of more than RMB 315 billion, with its scale falling from RMB 422.260 billion at the start of the year to RMB 112.830 billion. ICBC bore the heaviest pressure from the contraction; at the start of the year, its custody of broad-based ETFs totaled RMB 1,400.474 billion, which has now shrunk to RMB 675.567 billion, a decline of over RMB 720 billion. Among the top five net outflow products, the Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF, China AMC CSI 300 ETF, and China AMC SSE 50 ETF were all custodied by ICBC, with combined net outflows exceeding RMB 660 billion in 2026. The E Fund CSI 300 ETF custodied by China Construction Bank saw net outflows of over RMB 250 billion during the year.

While banking institutions faced redemption pressure, brokerage firms stood out in incremental competition. Among the top ten institutions by custody asset growth this year, eight were brokerages. Changjiang Securities led with an increase of RMB 41.233 billion, followed by GF Securities at RMB 28.217 billion and CITIC Securities at RMB 21.156 billion. Ping An Bank, Zhongtai Securities, Guotai Haitong, China Securities, and China Merchants Securities each recorded growth exceeding RMB 10 billion. Regarding new fund launches, 231 ETFs began custody in 2026, with a total scale of RMB 60.433 billion. China Securities custodied 22 funds totaling RMB 3.004 billion; Industrial Bank and China Construction Bank each custodied 18 funds, with scales of RMB 5.227 billion and RMB 5.207 billion respectively. China Merchants Bank, Guosen Securities, Bank of China, and GF Securities also each took on more than 10 new custody mandates.