October 17 Financial Frontline News — The Global Wealth Management Forum · 2026 Shanghai Suhewan Conference was held in Shanghai from October 16 to 17, 2026, with BANKCOMM (ASX: 03328) Vice President Zhou Wanfu attending and participating in the meeting. Zhou Wanfu stated that changes in the economic and financial structure are driving commercial banks to reshape their operating logic.
China's economy is currently undergoing a transformation and upgrading from factor-driven growth to technology-innovation-driven growth. The financial system is simultaneously experiencing a structural shift from being dominated by indirect financing to relying more on direct financing. In the process of this transformation in the indirect financing landscape, the operating logic of commercial banks is undergoing changes.
Specifically, there are six shifts: first, a change in the asset business logic as direct financing rises; second, a change in the liability business logic as banks shift their operational focus from organizing deposits to comprehensive AUM management; third, a change in the profit logic as the business model shifts from heavy-capital interest spreads to light-capital intermediary income; fourth, deepening investment research and advisory capabilities to reshape customer service models; fifth, seizing cross-border wealth opportunities to enhance asset allocation capabilities; and sixth, strengthening technological empowerment to build a new paradigm for digital wealth management.
He pointed out that in recent years, direct financing has developed rapidly, with high-quality large enterprises and leading sci-tech innovation enterprises increasingly obtaining low-cost funds through public listings, forming a substitute for bank loans. With weakening demand in this regard, banks must turn to technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises, specialized and sophisticated enterprises, and other customer groups with higher risk identification difficulty to tap into credit demand. At the same time, they should actively increase bond investment, bond underwriting and distribution, and other financial market and investment banking businesses.
Facing the rise of direct financing, banks, in order to counter disintermediation, need to actively participate in direct financing services, open up diversified financing channels, and transform from fund providers to financing organizers, serving the diverse financing needs of the real economy.
"Commercial banks developing wealth management is both an inevitable choice for transformation and a highly certain opportunity," Zhou Wanfu stated. In response to changes in the economic and financial structure and to adapt to changes in operating logic, vigorously developing comprehensive wealth management including asset management is the most certain option for commercial banks.
In his view, expanding wealth management not only helps increase residents' property income through multiple channels but also facilitates the conversion of idle household savings into capital serving the real economy, channeling long-term funds to the capital market and providing patient capital for technological innovation and economic transformation and upgrading. Expanding wealth management also helps commercial banks enhance their function of serving the real economy, increase non-interest income sources, and achieve light-capital development.
Furthermore, Zhou Wanfu emphasized that investment research and investment advisory are the core competitiveness of wealth management and represent the deep-water zone of the current industry transformation. Banks must break away from the logic of simply selling products and shift to a customer-demand-centered asset allocation model, building a complete service loop that integrates investment research leadership, product selection, asset allocation, and continuous accompaniment. On the investment research side, efforts should be made to strengthen asset allocation, forming an investment research system that combines top-down macro and market analysis with bottom-up product screening, providing continuous views and strategic support for front-end services. On the investment advisory side, service tiering should be promoted, offering different forms and content of advisory services to different customers.
Comments