BaoYing Fund has announced a significant change in its senior leadership.
On July 1st, the company disclosed that General Manager Yang Kai has resigned for personal reasons. He is succeeded by Deputy General Manager Ge Junjie, who was previously in charge of investment and research. Concurrently, Deputy General Manager Zou Chunyu has stepped down from that role due to work requirements but will remain as the company's Party Committee Secretary and Director.
Dual Leadership Change
Yang Kai is a veteran figure at BaoYing Fund, having joined the company twice. His first tenure spanned from July 2003 to August 2016, during which he held positions including Executive Director of Market Development, Director of Specific Client Asset Management, and Director of Research. In September 2016, he moved to ZhongRong Fund, later becoming its General Manager. He returned to BaoYing Fund in March 2019 as General Manager, serving for over seven years.
The new General Manager, Ge Junjie, is also a core member of the investment and research team. From July 1995 to December 2007, he worked for the Shenzhen Municipal Government's Foreign Affairs Office and Financial Development Service Office, rising to positions such as Senior Staff Member and Deputy Division Chief. He joined BaoYing Fund in December 2007, serving successively as Researcher, Director of the General Manager's Office, Board Secretary, Director of the Special Account Investment Department, Assistant General Manager, and Deputy General Manager. Having overseen investment and research for many years as Deputy General Manager, Ge Junjie's promotion makes him another top executive in the fund industry with a strong investment research background.
Challenges in Talent Retention
Among small and medium-sized fund houses, BaoYing Fund has a strong focus on equity investment and has cultivated a number of well-known investment professionals. However, the firm has long faced a talent dilemma characterized by an ability to develop but not retain key personnel, potentially due to issues with incentive mechanisms.
Since 2021, several top-performing fund managers, including Li Jin, Chen Jinwei, Xiao Xiao, and Zhang Zhongwei, have left the company. Many joined other leading fund managers based in Shenzhen, such as Invesco Great Wall and Penghua.
Following the market surge in late 2024, the talent outflow from BaoYing Fund has continued. Ji Xiang, a fund manager with a large-cap value style, left in early 2025 to join China Europe Fund. Prominent mid-career equity fund manager Yang Siliang moved to E Fund Management last September. Zhang Tianwen, who departed late last year, officially joined Da Cheng Fund in early June.
Recently, the addition of co-managers to the BaoYing Transformation Power and BaoYing Technology 30 funds, managed by Rong Zhineng, Deputy Head of Equity Investment, has sparked market speculation about his potential departure. As of June 30th, the net value growth rates of the BaoYing Transformation Power and BaoYing National Security Shanghai-Hong Kong-Shenzhen funds under his management reached 265.35% and 255.95% over the past year, respectively. Several other funds he manages, including BaoYing Innovation Drive, have seen growth exceeding 170%. Should Rong Zhineng leave, BaoYing Fund would lose another key investment figure.
Scale Growth Lags Behind Bull Market
BaoYing Fund is known for its strength in equity investment and has achieved solid returns during the recent technology stock bull market. However, this has not translated into overall asset growth for the company.
In terms of total assets under management (AUM), Wind data shows that as of the end of the first quarter, BaoYing Fund's public fund AUM stood at 69.664 billion yuan. This represents a decline of nearly 10 billion yuan from the 79.292 billion yuan recorded at the end of the third quarter of 2024, when the current bull market began.
The scale of its equity funds (including stock and hybrid funds) has also contracted. By the end of Q1, the total AUM of BaoYing Fund's equity funds was 20.417 billion yuan, lower than the 24.140 billion yuan at the end of Q3 2024.
As its scale has not kept pace with the broader industry's development, BaoYing Fund's rankings for public fund AUM and non-money market fund AUM have slipped to 78th and 82nd in the industry, respectively. This represents a decline of approximately ten places compared to its rankings at the end of the third quarter of 2024.
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