The Financial Product "Secret Calculation" Has Changed! Is Your Wallet Ready?

Why Are AI and Bank Wealth Management Product Performance Benchmarks Generally Being Lowered?

Recently, the wealth management market has experienced a wave of “adjustments.”

According to Beike Finance reporters, since March, many bank wealth management products with fixed income types have cooled down—performance benchmarks have generally been lowered. Additionally, many bank wealth management products have also changed some of their performance benchmarks from numeric values to index-based expressions.

The performance benchmark is the “anchor” and “ruler” used for investment in bank wealth management products. Although the benchmark does not represent the final yield of the product, it is one of the ways investors understand the future returns of the product when choosing wealth management products.

Industry insiders point out that this adjustment is essentially the result of the deepening transformation of the wealth management market towards net value and changes in the market environment. It is expected that more wealth management companies will follow suit in lowering benchmarks and switching anchors in the short term.

What does this mean for ordinary investors? Experts suggest: Ordinary investors no longer need to obsess over the high or low of performance benchmarks. Instead, focus more on the actual performance and risk control of the products. Pay attention to the long-term stability of the product’s past performance to assess the manager’s investment research strength and risk management ability.

Lowered! Some bank products’ performance benchmarks have dropped by over 100 basis points

Recently, multiple bank wealth management products from various banks have lowered their performance benchmarks.

For example, a fixed-term fixed income plan released by China Merchants Bank Wealth Management has a recent performance benchmark of 1.00%-2.00% for its 8th investment cycle, compared to 1.60%-3.10% in the previous cycle. This means the upper limit of the benchmark has been reduced by 110 basis points.

Huaxia Wealth Management also recently lowered the benchmark for a fixed income pure debt one-year fixed-term product. According to the announcement, the benchmark was reduced from 2.30%-3.30% (A shares) and 2.40%-3.40% (B shares) a year ago to 1.40%-1.70% and 1.50%-1.80%, respectively. The upper limit was cut by 160 basis points.

According to incomplete statistics from Beike Finance, multiple products from banks like Bank of Communications Wealth Management and Xingyin Wealth Management have also lowered their benchmarks.

The main reason for the collective reduction in benchmarks is the overall decline in the yields of wealth management products. Data from PuYi Standard shows that as of the end of February 2026, the one-month annualized yield of cash management products was 1.25%, a slight decrease from the previous month; the overall average one-month annualized yield of fixed income products was 2.16%, down 146 basis points month-on-month; hybrid and equity products averaged 1.30% and 5.83%, respectively, with relatively larger declines.

PuYi Standard points out that the current market risk-free interest rate continues to decline, deposit rates have been cut multiple times, and the yield on the 10-year government bond has steadily fallen, directly compressing the yield space of fixed income assets. Based on the actual investment environment, wealth management companies lowering benchmarks is a rational response to market changes, helping to prevent large deviations between benchmarks and actual returns and avoiding misleading investors.

Switching Anchors! Index-based expressions may become the future trend

Currently, many bank wealth management products are also changing how their benchmarks are presented: instead of showing a fixed value or a range of values, many are now linked to deposit rates or index returns expressed in index form.

For example, Xingyin Wealth Management’s shortest-hold daily open fixed income product, with a minimum holding period of one month, now uses a benchmark of “Cumulative Bond-Index Yield (less than 1 year) × 60% + PBOC 7-day notice deposit rate × 40%,” replacing the previous “annualized 2.20%-3.60%.”

A 370-day fixed income plan from China Merchants Bank Wealth Management also changed its benchmark from “2.40%-4.10% (annualized)” to “42% × Cumulative Bond-Index Yield (less than 1 year) + 50% × Cumulative Bond-Index Yield (1-3 years) + 3% × CSI 800 Index yield + 5% of the PBOC’s announced savings deposit rate (after tax).”

In the announcement, China Merchants Bank Wealth Management also stated, “This product is a net value product, and its performance will fluctuate with the market, which is uncertain.”

“Such products are no longer rare,” said financial regulation expert Zhou Yiqin. Since the second half of 2025, the number of index-based benchmarks in wealth management products has increased significantly, with the issuance proportion rising from less than 0.1% to about 5%. The main reason for switching benchmarks is compliance considerations.

According to the draft for comments of the “Asset Management Product Information Disclosure Measures” by the National Financial Regulatory Administration, “For products disclosing performance benchmarks, the product manager should maintain consistency of the benchmark and generally should not adjust it.”

Industry insiders believe that “switching anchors” is an inevitable trend.

Dong Ximiao pointed out that this “switch” is not a short-term phenomenon but a fundamental, long-term change driven by clear regulatory guidance and market environment shifts. In the future, newly issued wealth management products, especially fixed income and hybrid products, will increasingly adopt benchmarks linked to market indices or policy rates. The past single-value benchmarks that gave investors the impression of fixed returns will gradually phase out.

In the era of low interest rates, how should ordinary people invest?

While performance benchmarks can more accurately reflect how products change with the market’s structure, their complexity and lack of intuitiveness have become barriers for ordinary investors when choosing wealth management products. Under the new circumstances, how should ordinary investors select bank wealth management products?

“Performance benchmarks are not equal to the final actual returns; they are just a ‘reference’ to measure product management,” said Dong Ximiao. Ordinary investors can use more practical indicators to evaluate products. Prioritize the benchmark achievement rate, i.e., how often the product’s actual returns meet or exceed the benchmark over a period. Also, examine the product’s historical net value drawdowns, choosing those with smoother net value curves and smaller fluctuations.

“Investors should avoid products with low fit and carefully select wealth management products that match their risk tolerance,” said Zhou Yiqin. After purchasing, index-based benchmarks can help investors effectively supervise the investment operation, constrain managers’ investment behaviors, and assess their investment ability against the benchmark. This provides a reliable basis for subsequent portfolio adjustments and selecting better managers.

Zhou Yiqin expects that as the benchmark switch progresses, competition among wealth management firms will shift from “attracting investors with high benchmarks” to a focus on research and investment capabilities.

Additionally, Dong Ximiao mentioned that investors should lower their return expectations and accept the new normal of low interest rates. The yield center of the wealth management market has moved downward, with the average yield of products in 2025 expected to be only 1.98%. Future investments should be rational, avoiding products still labeled as “high yield,” and remaining vigilant against illegal marketing tricks like “yield ranking.”

Beike Finance Reporter Jiang Fan Editor Chen Li Proofreader Liu Baoqing