Securities Times reporter Pei Lirui
In the newly disclosed list of the top 100 publicly offered funds with sales volume, the market share of bank channels has declined for 12 consecutive quarters.
In recent years, the brokerage channel has grown against the trend by virtue of ETF business, and the Internet platform has risen rapidly by virtue of the flow advantage, making the bank channel feel "full of crisis" in the fund consignment business. Accordingly, the major banks are also working hard to "promote" from such dimensions as reducing subscription fees and distributing C shares to attract fee sensitive fund investors.
More banks sell funds at discount
Recently, Xiamen Bank The announcement of the "10% discount on the purchase rate of designated public fund products" was released, which expressed that in order to thank customers for their long-term trust and support, and at the same time encourage investors to establish a long-term investment philosophy, customers who purchase or invest in designated public fund products through mobile banking channels before the end of 2024 will enjoy a 10% discount on the purchase or investment rate.
At the same time, Hangzhou United Bank also recently launched a 10% discount fund purchase activity. Through the Bank's Harvest Internet and smart teller machine purchase/fixed investment, you can enjoy a 10% discount on the purchase rate (except for individual funds). Recommended products include E Fund CSI 300ETF Link A, Harvest CSI 500ETF Link A.
An obvious trend is that in recent years, more and more banks have joined the "price war" of fund consignment, and more and more fund products have also been included in the "discount promotion area".
In fact, as early as 2020, China Merchants Bank It was the first in the industry to launch a 10% discount on the subscription rate of index funds and bond funds; In July 2021, China Merchants Bank officially announced again that it would launch a differentiated rate system for public funds, reduce the subscription rate of more than 1000 equity funds to 10%, and arrange nearly 1000 Class C share funds without charge at the front end.
After China Merchants Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China 、 Ping An Bank 、 Industrial Bank 、 Huaxia Bank More banks have also joined the ranks of "discount promotion" to sell funds. On the one hand, benchmarking the Internet platform, vigorously layout and promote C share funds without front-end subscription fees, and on the other hand, launch a 10% subscription fee model for A shares of key funds to attract investors.
In this regard, some channel people believe that this is mainly because of the intensified competition in the fund consignment market. In addition to the traditional bank consignment, brokerage commission and fund direct sales, investors have also had a strong rise in the Internet platform. The intensified market competition has also contributed to the decline of fund fees.
Products covered are still limited
It is worth mentioning that, compared with the general discount of Internet platforms, the preferential rate activities of banks for funds are mostly limited to some key cooperative products, and the coverage is still small.
For example, Bank of Xiamen, which recently announced preferential fund subscription fees, pointed out in its announcement that this preferential rate was limited to eight designated funds, and all eight funds were index funds. However, at the beginning of this year, it was announced that the front-end subscription and fixed investment rates of some funds would be reduced by 10% Minsheng Bank Its preferential activities only covered 13 products such as Fuguo High Quality Development, Hua'an Media Internet A, and Guangfa Xinxiang. Even China Merchants Bank, which opened the fund rate preference earlier, did not achieve a large proportion of discount coverage. Among its "Five Star Selection" main funds, there are still many active equity funds with a normal subscription rate of 1.5%.
Some insiders said that the current fee reduction of major sales agencies is a spontaneous market-oriented behavior, so there are many structural problems. In the future, with the gradual implementation of the rate reform policy, the fund sales market will be further standardized.
In July 2023, the CSRC issued the Work Plan for the Reform of the Public Fund Industry Rate, which plans to take 15 measures within two years to promote the rate reform in stages according to the implementation path of "management costs transaction costs sales costs". The third step is to focus on the fund sales process and further standardize the subscription rate and other sales costs.
Overall decline in the scale of consignment sales
Relying on the number of outlets, customer resources and other advantages, the bank channel has always been the main force of fund sales on a commission basis. However, with the rapid rise of Internet platforms and the explosive growth of ETF business in securities channels, the bank's fund sales on a commission basis is facing huge challenges, which may also be a major reason for banks to sell funds at a discount.
According to the latest statistics of the top 100 publicly offered fund sales retention scale disclosed by the China Infrastructure Association, by the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, the retention of bank channel equity hybrid funds was 2.29 trillion yuan, a decrease of 235.6 billion yuan compared with the third quarter, a decline of 9.32% month on month, and the market share fell 1.90 pct month on month to 45.69%. It has declined for 12 consecutive quarters since the disclosure of the top 100 list by the China Infrastructure Association in 2021.
Among the 24 listed banking institutions, the scale of stock mixed funds of 23 institutions declined month on month in the fourth quarter of last year, and 14 banks fell more than 10% month on month Bank of Shanghai The month on month decline even exceeded 20%, and only HSBC's equity mixed funds remained stable.
In addition, the recently disclosed annual reports of listed companies also show that the income of the consignment funds of many banks will shrink in 2023.
For example, in 2023, the agency fund income of China Merchants Bank will be 5.179 billion yuan, down 21.52% year on year. The bank said that the main reason was that the capital market fell in shock, and the retention and sales scale of equity funds with higher fees declined year on year. agricultural bank It is no exception that the Bank realized fund sales of 203.417 billion yuan in 2023, slightly lower than 205.485 billion yuan in 2022. In addition, bank for economic construction It was also stated in the annual report that "the income of fund consignment has declined due to the fluctuation of capital market and the policy of fee reduction."
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