26 wealth management companies will have equity investments exceeding 500 billion by 2025. Institutions predict that this year's wealth management may "inject" 300 billion into the stock market.

**Lianhe Finance and News April 2 (Editor: Wang Wei)**In 2025, driven by factors such as the explosive growth of the artificial intelligence industry and policy support, the stock market performed strongly. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 18.41%, and the Shenzhen Component Index rose 29.87%.

As one of the major providers of market capital, how did wealth management companies’ equity investments perform in 2025?

According to an incomplete compilation by Lianhe Finance and News, as of April 2, among 32 wealth management companies that have commenced operations, 26 have already disclosed their 2025 annual wealth management business reports. Six companies—Nanyang Wealth Management, Ningyin Wealth Management, Beiyin Wealth Management, Yuguang Rural Commercial Wealth Management, Goldman Sachs Industrial and Commercial Wealth Management, and Schroders BOC Interbank Wealth Management—have not yet disclosed.

Overall, in 2025, equity investments by wealth management companies did not increase noticeably. The total equity investment size of the 26 wealth management companies at year-end was 548.48B yuan, down 6.5% from the end of 2024; moreover, the equity investment size and share of 14 wealth management companies, including Agricultural Bank Wealth Management and China Merchants Wealth Management, both decreased compared with the end of 2024.

Looking ahead to 2026, many institutions hold a positive view of the wealth management investment equity market and predict that it may bring an incremental 150-300 billion yuan in capital to the stock market.

Equity investment by 26 wealth management companies exceeds 500 billion yuan in 2025

Although the A-share market in 2025 performed strongly overall, wealth management companies did not see their absolute scale and allocation proportion in equity-type assets rise accordingly; instead, they showed a widespread contraction trend. The equity investment situation of wealth management companies that have disclosed their wealth management business reports is shown in the chart below:

Source of data: Wealth management business reports; compiled by Lianhe Finance and News

Overall, the combined equity investment amount of the 26 wealth management companies at the end of 2025 was 8B yuan, down 6.5% from the end of 2024.

In addition, among large-state-owned bank wealth management companies, Agricultural Bank Wealth Management, Industrial and Commercial Bank Wealth Management, Bank of Communications Wealth Management, and China Post Wealth Management saw both their equity investment scale and share decline; among joint-stock bank wealth management companies, five firms—China Merchants Wealth Management, Ping An Wealth Management, Guangfa Wealth Management, ICBC? (as relevant), and ABC? (as relevant)—saw both their scale and share decline.

Huafeng Wealth Management’s equity investment increased 252.69% in 2025. The reason is that its base was relatively low; its absolute investment amount at the end of 2025 was 243 million yuan. Bohyin Wealth Management, Jianxin Wealth Management, Bank of China Wealth Management, Xingyin Wealth Management, and Hangyin Wealth Management seized market trends and substantially increased their equity investment scales; the absolute increase in their equity investment amounts in 2025 all exceeded 50%.

In terms of absolute amounts, at the end of 2025 among the 26 wealth management companies with disclosed data, Agricultural Bank Wealth Management had the largest equity investment scale at 548.48B yuan, accounting for 3.81%. Everbright Wealth Management ranked second with 85.16B yuan, accounting for 3.14%. China Merchants Wealth Management ranked third with 64.9B yuan, accounting for 2.12%. Industrial and Commercial Bank Wealth Management had an absolute investment amount of 62.25B yuan, accounting for 2.59%.

According to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China annual report, Industrial and Commercial Bank Wealth Management participated in more than 30 rounds of new-product investments in 2025, such as Hong Kong stock IPOs and public REITs.

In terms of share, Su Yin Wealth Management stands out. Its equity investment was 55.45B yuan, representing 6.11% of total assets of all products. It also laid out its equity market positioning through a “self-directed investment + outsourcing investment” dual-wheel drive.

In sharp contrast, the enthusiasm of wealth management funds to indirectly participate in the capital market through public funds has surged to an unprecedented level. According to data disclosed by China Wealth Management Network, at the end of 2025, the scale of bank wealth management products’ investments in public funds was 1.81 trillion yuan, accounting for 5.1%. At the end of 2024, this figure was only 0.93 trillion yuan, accounting for 2.9%.

Why did the demand from wealth management firms for outsourcing public-fund investments increase in 2025? In a research report, China International Capital Corporation stated that because some wealth management institutions are still in a window period for building their equity investment and research capabilities, in a bull market environment, they are not inclined to directly increase allocation to directly held stocks in the early stage. Instead, they gradually increase the exposure to equity assets by allocating to public funds first, bringing better allocation flexibility.

Specifically, in the fourth quarter, wealth management continued to increase allocations to hybrid second-tier bond funds and equity ETF products. The total increase in hybrid-type funds was 24.9 billion yuan to 175.9 billion yuan (including QDII), and the increase in hybrid second-tier bond funds was 31.3 billion yuan to 111.6 billion yuan.

In its research report, a researcher from West China Securities analyzed that in the future, cooperation with public funds may continue to deepen. While also serving as a liquidity management tool, public funds will become an important channel for wealth management to explore multi-asset fields and enhance long-term returns. On one hand, the impact of the new rules on redemption fees is limited, so public funds may still be the core liquidity management tool. On the other hand, wealth management can also use public fund products to build a “fixed income +” strategy. In addition, exchange-traded ETFs, with their low fees and flexible subscription/redemption, may be an important tool for wealth management to achieve diversified asset allocation.

In 2026, institutions predict wealth management may bring 150-300 billion yuan of allocation funds to the stock market

Objectively speaking, the current banking wealth management industry still faces challenges in advancing its equity asset allocation. Fundamentally, this stems from the structural continuity features of industry transformation after the implementation of the new asset management regulations (asset management measures), mainly reflected in two aspects: customer cognition alignment and matching of fund maturities.

In a research report, analyst Zhu Guangyue of Guosheng Securities stated that after the implementation of the new asset management regulations, bank wealth management fully shifted to net-value-based management. Equity-type assets must strictly use market-value-based valuation; fluctuations in asset prices will directly be reflected in the product’s net value. This compliance requirement creates a mismatch at the transition stage with some customers’ traditional wealth management cognition.

In addition, the inherent contradiction between wealth management product liquidity management and asset characteristics, along with the dual constraints of risk control and performance evaluation, further compress the space for equity allocation. Some products are constrained by asset admission policies, making it difficult to diversify risk and enhance returns through multi-asset portfolios. Combined with pressure from short-term performance evaluations, institutions remain cautious in allocating to equity assets.

Zhu Guangyue believes that for the wealth management industry, improving the ability to allocate equity in wealth management is not only an inevitable response to policy initiatives and a practical move to meet long-term capital’s entry-into-the-market requirements, but also a core lever for breaking away from reliance on fixed-income business and upgrading wealth management business—bringing incremental value to the industry and sectors.

In the short term, “fixed income + equity” products have become the key direction for focus during the transition stage. They can increase product returns while controlling net value volatility, effectively improve customer stickiness, and also align with the broader trend of residents’ wealth shifting “from deposits to diversified assets,” helping banks capture more market share in wealth management.

In the long term, as banks steadily increase their proportion of equity allocation for wealth management and continuously strengthen their investment research capabilities, this will push banks to transform from “traditional fixed-income asset managers” into “comprehensive wealth service providers.” It will build a business pattern driven by a dual engine of “fixed income + equity,” break traditional business valuation bottlenecks, and open up new valuation space for the banking sector.

Everbright Securities said that in 2026, wealth management products will further expand demand for structured products with equity-linked features. Multi-asset allocation represented by assets including equity will continue to be an important lever for wealth management to enhance returns. In terms of equity investments, besides the stock-type assets that the market focuses on, wealth management can also participate through multiple approaches such as strategic placements and off-exchange IPO subscription for new shares. It also estimates that in 2026 wealth management may bring 150-300 billion yuan of allocation capital to the stock market.

CICC also said that in a slow bull market, additional capital for equity allocation in wealth management is promising. As China’s capital markets move toward high-quality development, regulators are expected to build a slow bull market environment through measures such as trading ETFs and introducing long-term capital. This context is conducive to wealth management investors being able to “hold on” to the equity assets in their hands.

In addition, some wealth management institutions with a higher degree of market orientation have also begun to explore allocations to equity-linked products more proactively. With support from bank distribution channels, CICC said it is optimistic about the room for wealth management to increase equity asset allocations in a slow bull market environment. It also expects that the actual allocation positions of equity assets in wealth management in 2026 and 2027 could rise to 2.1% and 3.0%, respectively, bringing about 290 billion yuan and 460 billion yuan of incremental equity-market capital.

(Editor: Qian Xiaorui)

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