Original Huabao Fund ETF "Queen" Hu Jie: Completed her career transition in 12 days, contributing to the systematic development of Tianhong ETF

The public offering ETF sector recently experienced an important personnel change, as well-known index fund manager Hu Jie from China Asset Management has officially joined Tianhong Fund, attracting widespread industry attention. According to the latest public disclosure from the Asset Management Association of China, Hu Jie completed her deregistration from China Asset Management on February 12 and finalized her transfer to a new institution on February 24, with the entire process taking less than two weeks.

As a core talent cultivated internally at China Asset Management, Hu Jie’s career is deeply intertwined with the company’s development. Since joining in June 2006, she has held key positions in the Trading Department, Product Development Department, and Quantitative Investment Department, serving as the Index Investment Director before her departure. By the end of 2025, the ETFs she managed totaled 101.362 billion yuan, accounting for nearly a quarter of China Asset Management’s total public fund assets (416.528 billion yuan). In the non-money market ETF sector, her managed assets account for nearly 80%, making her a pillar of the company’s index business.

In terms of product management, Hu Jie’s flagship products have performed notably. The China Asset Management CSI All Share Securities Company ETF reached a scale of 39.772 billion yuan; the China Asset Management CSI Healthcare ETF reached 25.263 billion yuan; and the China Asset Management CSI Bank ETF reached 12.794 billion yuan. All three are among the hundred-billion-level ETFs. However, scale advantages have not necessarily translated into sustained superior performance. Data shows that her managed products delivered an overall return of 9.33% over the past year and 1.62% over the past three years, both trailing the CSI 300 Index by more than 10 percentage points, highlighting the industry characteristic that “scale and returns in passive index funds are not always positively correlated.”

The personnel transition for the involved products has been completed smoothly. China Asset Management announced that on the day Hu Jie stepped down, nine products simultaneously appointed new fund managers. The remaining seven products had already completed succession arrangements between 2021 and 2025. The new managers include Zhang Fang, Feng Chencheng, Hu Yijiang, and Jiang Junyang, all of whom were internally developed by China Asset Management, ensuring a smooth management transition.

Tianhong Fund has been strengthening its talent team in recent years by recruiting external experts to bolster core investment research capabilities. Besides Hu Jie, the company has also brought in senior professionals such as Gao Yang, former General Manager of Bosera Fund; Nie Tingjin, former General Manager of Huatai Asset Management; and Gao Guixin, former General Manager of Manulife Fund, covering areas including equities, fixed income, and index funds. Notably, on February 9, the company’s hundred-billion-level “Fixed Income+” fund manager Jiang Xiaoli resigned due to personal reasons, and all her managed public funds have been transferred.

From the industry competition perspective, ETF market size shows dynamic changes. Data indicates that by the end of 2025, China Asset Management’s ETF assets will reach 208.171 billion yuan, ranking tenth in the industry, with a quarter-on-quarter growth of 6.59%. Tianhong Fund’s ETF assets will be 114.997 billion yuan, ranking sixteenth, but with a quarter-on-quarter increase of 22.2%, demonstrating a stronger growth momentum. Industry analysts believe that Hu Jie’s joining will significantly support Tianhong Fund’s ETF development, especially in product system construction and research capabilities enhancement.

Talent mobility in the passive investment sector has unique industry characteristics. Due to the standardized operation mode of index funds, fund managers can manage multiple similar products simultaneously; bond funds, given their large scale and similar strategies, often form “one-to-many” management structures. This business model often leads to batch product handovers when managers leave, which places higher demands on the stability of institutional research systems.