● Our reporter Wan Yu Zhang Lingzhi
Since this year, the fund market has recovered slightly, but the hot issue of products expected by the industry has not yet appeared. "It's still not very marketable. Even excellent fund managers and strong channels are difficult to enter the market together," said one fund insider with emotion.
In this context, some fund companies have issued only a handful of active equity products (ordinary equity funds and partial equity hybrid funds) since this year, and some leading companies even chose to "absent". Even though more than 20 new products have been issued, no active equity products have been seen. People can't help asking, where has the baton of fund company products turned?
The reporter of China Securities News has learned that in terms of the layout of equity products, many fund companies have shifted from crazy "inner roll" ETFs in the past two years to quantitative dividend products, and this track has become a new outlet for fund companies in the medium and long-term layout. In addition, in the context of product quantity saturation and homogenization, competing products may no longer be the focus of fund companies in the future, and related supporting services focusing on improving the sense of gain of individual investors and institutional investors will become a new direction.
The enthusiasm for the layout of active equity products declined
Since this year, with the recovery of the market, some active equity funds have performed well. Wind data shows that as of May 21, the return rate of Jingshun Great Wall Cycle Selection A, Bosera Growth Selection A, and Southern Development Opportunity holding A for one year has exceeded 30% since this year, and the return rate of Wanjia Double Engine A, Guangfa Resources Selection A and other companies has exceeded 20% since this year. However, by observing the performance of equity funds as a whole, we can find that as of May 20, the increase of the index of Tianxiang Active Equity Fund and the index of partial equity hybrid fund since this year is 0.81% and 1.92% respectively, which is not outstanding.
As the overall earning effect is not high, the issuance of new funds is not hot. As of May 22, a total of 528 new funds have been issued this year (based on the start date of subscription), with a total of 404.529 billion issued shares, and an average of 996 million issued shares. Wind data shows that the average issuance scale of hybrid funds in April was 434 million yuan and the average issuance scale of equity funds was 233 million yuan.
These data reflect that fund companies are not enthusiastic about the layout of active equity funds this year. The China Securities Journal reporter combed the data and found that some fund companies issued very few active equity funds this year, and even some companies did not issue one active equity fund, including some leading companies. For example, head fund companies have issued more than 20 new products this year, most of which are passive index products, including REITs, QDII, bond funds, etc., but there is no active equity fund. In addition, there are some "big factories" with the highest non commodity scale that have not developed new active equity funds this year.
At the same time, some fund companies are still insisting. Wind data shows that since this year, a total of 134 active equity funds have been newly issued. Among the active equity funds that have been established, CEIBS has the largest scale, reaching 1.11 billion; In addition, the scale of 12 state-owned enterprises, including ten thousand state-owned enterprises and Guangfa's balanced growth, exceeded 500 million.
Wells Fargo Fund, China Europe Fund, Cinda Australia Asia Fund and Wanjia Fund have issued the largest number of active equity funds since this year, with 5 each; Guangfa Fund, Penghua Fund, Huaxia Fund, Guoshou Security Fund and Caitong Fund have respectively issued 4 active equity funds this year. In addition, Boshi Fund and other funds have respectively issued 3 active equity funds this year.
Low risk appetite of investors
Behind the difficulty of active equity funds, it is not that fund companies give up on their own initiative, but that "it is really too difficult". Wang Hua (a pseudonym), a senior fund insider, said frankly.
"Even for some products managed by excellent fund managers, even if all branches of the company come together, it is difficult to raise funds. Many funds are set up at the lowest scale, and will soon become mini products after operation," said Wang Hua.
"The low risk appetite of investors or the low issuance of active equity funds is an important reason." The researcher of the Fund Evaluation Research Center of Tianxiang Investment Advisory said that although fund companies have the natural motivation to expand the scale of their issued products, due to the low risk appetite of investors, fund issuance is more difficult than usual. Even if the issuance is successful, once the market volatility increases again, it is also very easy to cause investors to redeem in large quantities, which not only causes losses to investors, but also is not conducive to the subsequent management and operation of the fund.
From a deeper perspective, the fund company is concerned with ensuring the market adaptability of its products and investors' acceptance, controlling risks and avoiding losses to investors, and maintaining the company's brand and reputation.
Wang Zehan, equity researcher of Yingmi Fund Research Institute, believes that the overall performance of active equity funds has been poor in the past three years and it has been difficult for them to outperform the broad based index since 2023, leading to a decrease in investors' attention to active equity funds and a decrease in product demand. Since this year, the equity market performance has been differentiated, investors' risk appetite is still low, and they are cautious about equity investment. "At a deeper level, fund companies consider how to provide products that match the needs of investors in the current market environment, while ensuring long-term returns and market competitiveness of products. Some companies may choose more cautious strategies in the face of market uncertainty, such as turning to the bond market or other relatively stable investment fields." Wang Zehan introduced, Fund companies have distributed a large number of bond products since this year. "Although the bond market has fluctuated, short-term bond funds have increased rapidly this year, especially in the first quarter".
Bond funds have become an important position for fund companies to launch new products this year. Wind data shows that since this year, a total of 171 bond funds have been newly issued, especially in terms of size, bond funds have become the absolute main force. Among the newly issued funds this year, there are 16 new funds that have raised more than 7 billion shares, all of which are bond funds.
Quantified dividend products may become new
The reporter of China Securities News learned from the survey that although some "big factories" are not keen on issuing active equity funds, they have not ignored the layout of equity products and focused on quantitative dividend products. Wang Hua introduced.
In addition, in the past two years, the boom of "big factories" clustering ETFs has begun to cool down. "In the context of the reduction of fees in the fund industry, the scale of ETFs is difficult to reach a higher level, and the price war is becoming increasingly fierce. Even fund companies with large ETFs are not making much money. With the intensification of the Matthew effect, more and more companies will gradually give up their layout." A channel personage of a large fund company said.
With the increasing number of products, the focus of fund companies will no longer be on competing products in the future. Relevant supporting services to improve the sense of gain of individual investors and institutional investors will become the focus of fund companies.
"Future fund companies may focus on two aspects, one is diversified allocation scheme, the other is investor education and investment advisor." The researcher of the Fund Evaluation Center of Tianxiang Investment Advisor said that due to the serious homogenization of traditional fund products, the advantages of fund products as a major asset allocation were not brought into play, In the future, fund companies may provide customized asset allocation plans for customers through product innovation and fund investment advisers to win more customers.
The researcher of the Tianxiang Investment Advisory Fund Evaluation Center said that investors' losses are not only due to the large market fluctuations, but also sometimes caused by irrational behaviors in the face of extreme situations, such as chasing up and killing down. Therefore, as a professional institution, fund companies can improve the professional ability of investors through active investor education, which is also one of the ways to close the distance with investors.
In addition, in order to adapt to market changes and investor needs, fund companies can explore the diversification of products and services, such as fund investment advisory, pension financial services, international expansion and other businesses. Fund companies should also pay more attention to the return of investors rather than just pursuing scale growth, and enhance the return on investment by improving investment research capabilities, innovating management models and optimizing investment processes.
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Editor in charge: Jiang Yuhan
