Public offering FOF assets surpass 300 billion, with deep collaboration with banks becoming a core driving force

Ask AI · How is the bank transformation reshaping wealth management behind the FOF scale explosion?

[Global Network Finance Comprehensive Report] As the first quarter of 2026 nears its end, public FOFs (Fund of Funds) have attracted market attention with explosive growth. According to Wind data, more than 44 new FOFs have been established this year, with a total fundraising scale of 65.125 billion yuan. As new funds continue to pour in, the total scale of FOF funds officially surpassed the 300 billion yuan mark in mid-March, reaching a new historical level. Behind the hot market, influenced by the recent fluctuations and adjustments in the A-share market, the returns of equity FOFs have significantly declined, highlighting the risk warning, and performance differentiation has become a test that the market must face.

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In this issuance feast, leading commercial banks have played an absolutely dominant role. Data shows that China Merchants Bank, China Construction Bank, and Bank of China lead the industry in FOF custody scale, capturing the mainstream issuance share and becoming veritable “incubators” for FOF hot products. A manager of a public FOF fund stated that the current bank channels are no longer satisfied with simple agency sales but are jointly creating exclusive FOF brand plans with leading fund companies, promoting and selling with concentrated resources, achieving an accelerated transformation from “sales channels” to “asset allocation centers.” From China Merchants Bank’s “TREE Long-term Profit Plan” to China Construction Bank’s “Dragon Profit Plan,” and Bank of China’s “Smart Investment Plan,” top banks have built a systematic and branded FOF product matrix through deep cooperation with fund companies.

This deeply binding customized model is reshaping the industry ecosystem. A head of a bank’s wealth management department revealed that this is not a simple product agency sales but a deep co-creation based on customer profiles where banks propose needs, and fund companies customize strategies accordingly. Product design precisely addresses the needs of bank channel customers: the holding period mainly focuses on 3 months or 6 months, aligning with investors’ preferences for short-term stable allocation; on the strategic level, it mainly adopts “fixed income +” and diversified asset allocation, controlling equity positions between 5% and 30%, using bonds as a base and allocating low-volatility dividend stocks, gold ETFs, and other assets to match the reallocation needs of bank wealth management and fixed-term deposits at maturity. Under the dual drive of sustained low-interest environments and the migration of residents’ wealth, the smoothing characteristics of FOF meet the core demand of bank customers for “deposit replacement,” becoming a key tool for banks to optimize their income structure.

Although the issuance scale has repeatedly reached new highs, signs of market cooling have appeared after mid-March. The aforementioned public FOF fund manager analyzed that this is mainly because both supply and demand sides are tending towards rationality. As the A-share market experienced adjustments in mid-March, the money-making effect of equity assets weakened, investor risk appetite declined, and fund managers also actively slowed down the issuance pace. This rational adjustment risk warning has already manifested in the performance of FOFs; as of March 21, affected by the A-share adjustments, the investment success rate of equity FOFs has significantly decreased, creating a sharp contrast with the explosive issuance at the beginning of the year. From an internal structural perspective, the differentiation pattern in the FOF market remains evident. Wind data shows that among the 84 institutions engaged in FOF business, 57 manage less than 2 billion yuan, indicating that the “head effect” has not yet solidified, and many small and medium-sized institutions still face breakthrough difficulties. A head of an independent fund evaluation agency stated that the current hot FOF issuance market is essentially a reflection of the long-term trend of residents’ wealth transfer, but the hot sales of certain products exist due to the concentration of channel release periods, and the actual investment experience still needs time to verify. Multiple industry insiders believe that as the market adjusts, the value of FOFs as multi-asset combination tools will be further highlighted, and fund managers should avoid short-sighted behaviors of “focusing on initial issuance while neglecting sustainability,” maintaining the boundaries of strategic capacity, so that the “big year” of issuance can truly translate into a “big year” of returns for investors. (Wen Xin)