Public mutual funds will achieve a profit of 2.61 trillion yuan in 2025, setting a new record: leading institutions are taking the lead, with a clear pattern of strong stocks and weak bonds.

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Produced by | Company Research Office Fund Group

By | Zhang Yang

In 2025, the public fund industry delivered an impressive report card.

According to data from Tianxiang Investment Advisory, a total of 163 fund managers across the industry achieved combined profits of 2.61 trillion yuan, setting a new all-time high record, more than doubling from 1.28 trillion yuan in 2024.

Overall, the industry showed a distinct pattern of “strong stocks and weak bonds,” with advantages remaining stable for leading institutions, and product performance diverging between ETFs and active equity funds—each with its own highlights.

Overall profits doubled and grew rapidly, and the “strong stocks and weak bonds” pattern became prominent

In 2025, the public fund industry’s profit scale saw leapfrog growth. The industry’s profit-producing entities had very broad coverage: among 163 managers, 159 achieved positive returns.

In terms of returns by fund type, equity funds became the core profit pillar. Stock funds and hybrid funds earned 1.12 trillion yuan and 8733.38 billion yuan respectively; together, the two categories generated nearly 2 trillion yuan in profits, with a significant year-over-year increase.

In contrast, returns for fixed-income products clearly fell. Bond funds and money market funds both posted profits of over 1800 billion yuan, but year over year they declined by more than 50% and 18% respectively—further highlighting that “strong stocks and weak bonds” ran throughout the year.

In addition, smaller subcategories saw explosive growth. Sixty-three commodity funds earned 1037.94 billion yuan, up 551.07% year over year, with their growth rate ranking first across all categories. Nine hundred seventy-nine FOF funds earned 186.85 billion yuan, up 267.38% year over year, becoming a new growth point for industry profits.

Leading institutions are at the forefront of the industry, and fee reduction reforms are being rolled out steadily

At the level of fund managers, the industry shows a “top-heavy concentration” pattern. The top ten fund managers collectively earned 1.43 trillion yuan in profits, accounting for more than half of the industry’s total profits—far exceeding the level of the same period in 2024.

Specifically, on an individual basis, the profit from products under E Fund totaled 3270.08 billion yuan, ranking first, up 125% year over year. Closely following was Huaxia Fund with 2587.47 billion yuan, ranking second, up 82.8% year over year.

Southern Fund, GF Fund, Harvest Fund, Huatai-PineBridge Fund, Wanguo Fund, HuaAn Fund, Bosera Fund, and Huitianfu Fund ranked from 3rd to 10th respectively. Their profits were 1343.75 billion yuan, 1205.35 billion yuan, 1164.9 billion yuan, 1111.42 billion yuan, 1056.56 billion yuan, 882.96 billion yuan, 853.13 billion yuan, and 814.07 billion yuan.

Against the backdrop of the industry’s fee reduction reform, fund management fees showed a “slight increase in total, decline for individual funds” pattern—healthy and positive. In 2025, the total management fees of the top ten managers increased by only 5.28% year over year.

E Fund ranked first in management fees for 3 consecutive years with 84.47 billion yuan, but the average management fee per fund decreased by 8.78% year over year. The fee reduction reforms have truly benefited investors and are helping the industry transition toward “high quality and low fees.”

ETFs became the main profit force, and active equity funds saw a performance boom

On the product side, broad-based index ETFs became the most profitable fund category in 2025.

Among the top 20 most profitable funds, ETFs occupied 18 spots. Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF won the “most profitable fund of the year” crown with profits of 785.16 billion yuan. The CSI 300 ETFs under E Fund and Huaxia each generated over 400 billion yuan in profits, and across the entire market, 15 ETFs posted profits exceeding 10 billion yuan.

Active equity funds saw a major performance surge. Total annual profits reached 10011.64 billion yuan.

Across the entire market, 160 managers achieved positive returns in the active equity space. E Fund, China Europe Fund, and Wanguo Fund ranked among the top three. In terms of single products, Ruiyuan Growth Value Hybrid A generated 94.54 billion yuan in profits, becoming the champion among active equity funds, and it was the only active equity fund to rank among the top 20 in profits.

From the perspective of holdings, the AI computing power track became the core engine driving public fund profits. CATL, Zhongji Xuchuang, and XinYisheng ranked among the top three in holdings market value. The annual gains of the latter two were 396.38% and 424.03% respectively, providing strong support for fund performance.