The transition period for the new asset management rules is about to expire. According to regulatory requirements, 2021 is the last year of the transition period for the new asset management regulations. In the asset management industry, from the many "surprises" at the time of the introduction of the new asset management regulations, to the gradual adaptation of the transition stage of rectification, and the extension of the transition period of one year to provide enough room for maneuver for the industry, the new asset management regulations are no longer the "sword of Damocles" hanging high in the asset management industry, but the "beacon" that guides the healthy development of the industry and guides industry institutions to deepen asset management.
During the transition period of the new asset management regulations, the industry has witnessed the breakthrough path of various institutions and various businesses, most of which are the decisive "broken leaves" of "heroes breaking their wrists". During this period, there are naturally games between institutions and investors, between institutions and institutions, and between institutions, but overall, the transition period of the new asset management regulations is smoothly coming to an end.
"Sprint" transformation
Guosheng Securities research report pointed out that the main principles of the new asset management regulations are to break the rigid exchange, go to the channel, and remove the non-standard. The asset management products of securities companies and fund subsidiaries used to be the main carriers of channel business, and great changes have taken place in channel and non-standard business. Statistics show that as of October this year, the private equity asset management business of securities companies was 8.8 trillion yuan, and the special account business of fund subsidiaries was 2.6 trillion yuan. Compared with the peak in 2016, the two decreased by 50% and 76% respectively, which exceeded the decline in bank wealth management and trust.
Guosheng Securities pointed out that the directional asset management plan and the fund sub-account of the securities company are accelerating the pressure drop, and the proportion of the directional asset management plan is expected to drop to less than 50% by the end of the year. Targeted asset management plans and fund sub-accounts increased rapidly in 2013-2016 and reached a peak, with the strengthening of regulatory constraints, the channel advantage was lost, and some businesses flowed back to trusts, and the scale has been declining since 2017. This year's scale decline accelerated, as of June, the targeted asset management plan fell to 5.2 trillion yuan, a decrease of 10.4 trillion yuan from the peak, a decline of 56%, accounting for 62% of the scale of securities companies' asset management business from 91% in 2014, and is expected to drop to 47% by the end of this year. In October, the size of the fund's sub-special account decreased by 29% year-on-year, accounting for 15% of the total industry.
Public data show that securities companies and fund subsidiaries are the asset management institutions under the new asset management regulations, with greater transformation pressure and faster transformation speed. Wind data shows that taking the effective date of fund transformation as the statistical caliber, as of December 3, the number of fund transformations (consolidated shares, the same below) reached 172 this year, a record high. At the same time, the number of fund transformations has remained above 150 for four consecutive years. Observations have found that since the beginning of this year, the transformation of asset management large collective funds and graded funds in the fund transformation category has become the focus, of which the number of asset management large collective funds has been 73, and the number of hierarchical funds has reached 66, and the total of the two has reached 139.
Among them, the transformation of asset management products is one of the direct results brought about by the new asset management regulations. The transformation of the asset management products of some leading securities companies is of great significance. For example, the official website of Guotai Junan Asset Management recently disclosed the China Securities Regulatory Commission's "Reply on The Approval of the Change of Registration of the Guotai Junjun Desheng Bond Collective Asset Management Plan" and the "Reply on the Approval of the Change of Registration of the Guotai Junjun Dehui China Bond 1-3 Year Policy Financial Bond Index Collective Asset Management Plan". According to the contents of the document, the Guotai Junan Jundesheng Bond Collective Asset Management Plan and the Guotai Junan Jundehui China Bond 1-3 Year Policy Financial Bond Index Collective Asset Management Plan were changed to Guotai Junan Jundesheng Bond Securities Investment Fund and Guotai Jundesheng 1-3 Year Policy Financial Bond Index Securities Investment Fund from December 7, 2021. The industry believes that the two large collection products under Guotai Junan Asset Management were the first to be successfully approved to change the registration as public funds, providing a sample of public offering transformation for the industry.
"2021 is the last year of the transition period of the new asset management regulations, which means that the transformation of net worth in the asset management industry has entered the final stage. In 2019, the asset management of securities companies will start the transformation of public offering, and it will be accelerated before the end of this year. At present, there are already a number of securities institutions in the industry, which have carried out the transformation of asset management products. Some of our company's products have also submitted transformation applications, waiting for the final finalization. A person from a brokerage institution told the China Securities News reporter.
In addition, in terms of bank wealth management, the data shows that since November, a number of banks have issued announcements on the early termination of wealth management products. At the same time, the proportion of net worth products is rising. According to the data of the wealth management market in the third quarter of 2021 released by the Banking Wealth Management Registration and Custody Center a few days ago, the scale of net worth products has increased steadily, accounting for 86.56%, an increase of 26.08 percentage points over the same period last year.
On the trust side, according to the latest disclosed data of the China Trust Industry Association, as of the end of the third quarter of 2021, the balance of trust assets entrusted to the trust industry was 20.44 trillion yuan, down 0.94% from the end of the second quarter and 22.11% from the peak in the fourth quarter of 2017. Industry insiders said that the large-scale rectification of the trust has been basically completed, and it is precisely for this reason that the change in the scale of trust assets has gradually stabilized recently.
Multi-party "adaptation"
Not only in terms of product transformation, on the side of asset management institutions, various "adjustments" are also being made to comply with the new asset management regulations, among which the changes in fund subsidiaries can be described as "earth-shaking" during the transition period of the new asset management regulations.
Observations have found that fund subsidiaries have frequently fallen into difficulties in recent years, and news such as redemption crises and product terminations has been heard endlessly. "Fund subsidiaries have long relied solely on the channel business and have not been able to grow matching asset management capabilities. In the boom of the industry, the channel business has made the fund subsidiaries earn a lot of money. In addition, the general mechanism of subsidiaries is flexible, and most of the executives have corresponding equity, which is more radical in operation and difficult to have a long-term heart. The deputy general manager of a fund subsidiary in Shanghai told the China Securities News reporter.
The deputy general manager of the fund subsidiary believes that even if it is not the arrival of the new regulations on asset management, the original model of the industry is about to enter a period of high risk, and the landing of the new regulations on asset management is a timely "bomb removal" for the business of fund subsidiaries. Statistics from Guosheng Securities show that the fund sub-account business reached a scale of 7.5 trillion yuan in 2016. In 2016, the regulatory side strengthened the restriction on the net capital of fund subsidiaries, the channel advantages of fund subsidiaries were lost, the channel business returned to trust, and the scale of special account business continued to decline. As of October 2021, the scale of private asset management products of securities and futures operators was 16.7 trillion yuan, and the scale of asset management products managed by fund subsidiaries was 2.6 trillion yuan, accounting for 15.3% of the total private asset management products of securities and futures operators. From the perspective of growth rate, the scale of special accounts of fund subsidiaries turned negative in the fourth quarter of 2016, the year-on-year growth rate turned negative in the second quarter of 2017, and the decline in the second and third quarters of this year expanded, decreasing by 29.1% year-on-year in October.
As an asset management institution, such a cliff-like decline in scale has brought about the result of a comprehensive "contraction". China Securities News reporter learned from the fund manager of a fund subsidiary that since the beginning of this year, the company has comprehensively reduced its staffing and reduced costs. "Previously, it was mainly for the middle and back office departments such as sales, marketing, and administration, but now it has begun to streamline and upgrade the investment research team, and the reason for the proposal is to focus on the advantage areas, mainly because the management scale cannot support such a large amount of expenditure." The fund manager said that the road to contraction and streamlining is not so smooth. Many fund subsidiaries have personnel disputes, and even have resorted to law.
In relatively large institutions such as brokers, banks and trusts, the pressure on "adjustment" is relatively small. Taking Guotai Junan Asset Management as an example, the data shows that since preparing to expand the public offering business, Guotai Junan Asset Management has successively upgraded its system from the aspects of investment research system construction, talent introduction, and product innovation. At the same time, the company has also planned the development direction of the public offering business, on the one hand, through in-depth study of the development logic of emerging tracks such as hard technology, new energy, new consumption, etc., investing in the development of high-growth outstanding enterprises, and participating in the emerging industry track at the core of China's economic future, while serving the real economy, it will bring investors a more sustainable and diversified return on investment. On the other hand, we will give full play to our traditional advantages, play brands in the fields of quantification, FOF, REITs and other fields, and jointly create a public product series with insight into the future of China's innovation, help investors share the new dividends of China's economic growth, and create more value for customers.
Pack up and go again
Although the standardized development path pointed out by the new asset management regulations has made some institutions transform and even the pressure to survive, in the face of strong residents' financial needs, the asset management industry under the new asset management regulations has been fully prepared.
Zhang Rui, director of the China Market Association and professor of economics, wrote that the "new asset management regulations" will release greater reshaping and reengineering energy for the future asset management market. First, the epitaxial expansion of off-balance sheet business will be replaced by refined operation, and it is difficult for asset management institutions to speculate on money, and the key to winning is not only product income, but also the ability to discover and identify high-quality assets, enterprise and brand awareness, and team research and development innovation capabilities that are closely related to them. Second, asset management institutions return to their main business, focus on "special and special", not only to make full use of the advantages of resource endowments for deep cultivation, but also to strengthen accurate product customization and personalized design for different customer groups, and carry out differentiated competition. Third, the replacement of the amortized cost method by the market value method will be a major change in the asset valuation of the asset management industry in the future. In the future, the fluctuation of the net value of asset management products will become the norm, and there will be no more asset management products that only make money and do not lose money.
In the asset management industry, the strong demand for residents' financial management is looking for a variety of ways to meet them, and the standardized development of asset management institutions and asset management products is even more unavoidable. Taking the hot "fixed income +" products since this year as an example, it has become a major move for the public fund industry to undertake the needs of investors.
According to the data, as a fixed income upgraded version of the "fixed income +" product, the medium and long-term stable income is the goal, the relatively stable assets such as bonds are the bottom position, and the stock or convertible bond is allocated with a small number of positions to enhance the income. From the perspective of investment scope, "fixed income +" products can invest in a variety of assets such as bonds and stocks, which have the advantages of higher returns and flexibility compared with pure bonds or monetary funds.
"This year, the hot scene of 'fixed income +' products is impressive. On the one hand, thanks to this year's market volatility, everyone has paid more attention to the 'fixed income +' product; Deeper is the market's fundamental demand for products such as 'fixed income +' with stable returns, low risk, low volatility and good feelings for customers. On the institutional side, insurance, pensions, annuities, etc. have a huge demand for such products; On the retail side, with the transformation of bank wealth management and trust products, the needs of such customers also need to be docked with 'fixed income +' products. Zhong Wenyue, executive deputy general manager of China Merchants Fund, said a few days ago.
"On the road of standardized development of the asset management industry, more institutions continue to move forward along the road of standardization. We see that on the road of standardized development, the policy orientation of the regulatory authorities is more resolute, the asset management institutions are more conscious of practicing the standardized development, and the requirements of investors for standardized asset management institutions and asset management capabilities are getting higher and higher. A benign ecology of the industry is taking shape. The deputy general manager of the aforementioned fund subsidiary said.
![The transition period is a training ground for practicing letting go[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)