Mutual Fund Dividends Fall 27% to RMB 98.59 Billion; Bond Fund Payouts Drop 44.65%, Equity Funds Rise 30%
In the first seven months of 2026, Chinese mutual funds paid RMB 98.59 billion in dividends across 2,198 products, a 27% decline from a year earlier. Bond fund distributions plunged 44.65% to RMB 56.59 billion, while equity fund payouts increased 30% to RMB 41.25 billion. Broad-based ETFs dominated individual fund payouts, with the Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF alone distributing RMB 9.81 billion.
In the first seven months of 2026, total dividend payouts by Chinese mutual funds fell nearly 30% year-on-year, with a notable shift in the distribution pattern. As of July 30, 2,198 products had distributed dividends totaling RMB 98.59 billion, down RMB 36.46 billion or 27% from the same period in 2025. Bond fund dividend payouts contracted, while equity fund distributions increased.
Bond funds paid RMB 56.59 billion in dividends, down RMB 45.65 billion or 44.65% from the same period in 2025, accounting for 57.4% of total mutual fund dividends. Medium- and long-term pure bond funds contributed nearly 70% of bond fund payouts. Equity funds distributed RMB 41.25 billion, up 30.14% year-on-year, raising their share to 41.84%. Among passive index funds, ETFs paid RMB 22.09 billion in dividends, representing 94.29% of passive index fund payouts.
By individual product, broad-based ETFs took the top three spots in dividend amounts. The Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF distributed RMB 9.81 billion, the E Fund CSI 300 ETF paid RMB 4.48 billion, and the China Southern CSI 500 ETF paid RMB 1.98 billion. Among active equity products, the Huashang Advantage Industry A fund distributed RMB 1.94 billion; the fund posted a first-half return of 122.62%, outperforming its performance benchmark by 115.63 percentage points.
At the company level, E Fund Management led with total dividends of RMB 12.38 billion, of which ETFs contributed 40.01% and fixed-income plus products contributed about 20%. Huatai-PineBridge Fund Management paid RMB 11.58 billion in dividends, with the CSI 300 ETF alone accounting for 84.69% of that total. China Southern Asset Management and China Merchants Fund Management distributed RMB 5.64 billion and RMB 3.11 billion, respectively.
In terms of dividend frequency, the Xinhua Dividend Return fund completed nine distributions in the year to date, totaling RMB 38 million. Among the 126 products that paid dividends at least five times in the year, 73 were dividend-themed funds, accounting for nearly 60%. The China Southern CSI Bank ETF Feeder and Huashang Leading Enterprise each paid dividends eight times, with Huashang Leading Enterprise distributing a cumulative RMB 480 million.
The Huashang Leading Enterprise fund contract includes a mandatory dividend clause. When the fund's realized income exceeds the two-year resident savings deposit rate set by the central bank, the fund manager must propose a dividend plan within 15 trading days. Each dividend distribution must be at least 80% of distributable income, with a maximum of 12 distributions per year. If the fund has already paid dividends 12 times after meeting the conditions, the remaining distributable income will be carried forward to the next year.