The fund industry's compensation reform continues to draw market attention. Under new guidelines from the Asset Management Association of China, fund managers whose products underperform their benchmarks by more than 10 percentage points over three years—while also posting negative fund profitability—face a mandatory 30% reduction in performance-based pay. Additionally, firms must now evaluate multi-fund managers using weighted metrics like AUM and tenure, excluding funds managed for less than a year.
In this new regulatory framework, veteran fund managers' long-term performance is under scrutiny. Wang Dapeng, Director of Research Management at Morgan Stanley Fund Management, has become a focal point. Wind data shows that as of December 10, 2025, 13 of Morgan Stanley's funds underperformed benchmarks by over 10 percentage points in three years—with all four funds managed by Wang ranking among them.
Key underperformers include: - Morgan Stanley Consumer Leadership: 42.62% below benchmark, 45.93% max drawdown - Morgan Stanley Healthcare Industry A (¥1.7B AUM): 39.58% below benchmark, 44.98% drawdown - Morgan Stanley Shanghai-Hong Kong-Shenzhen Select A: 33.23% below benchmark, 54.59% drawdown - Morgan Stanley Excellence Growth: 27.24% below benchmark, 44.37% drawdown
Wang's concentrated portfolio shows heavy overlap across funds, with top holdings clustered in pharmaceuticals (WuXi AppTec, Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, Daxi Medical-U, InventisBio-U) and select consumer/manufacturing leaders (Kweichow Moutai, Sanhua Intelligent Controls). Recent months saw pharmaceutical holdings drag performance, with WuXi AppTec and Daxi Medical-U dropping over 10%, while outperformers like Sanhua couldn't offset sector losses.
Despite this track record, Wang is co-managing a new fund—Morgan Stanley Hong Kong Connect Multi-Growth Hybrid—with equity investment director Lei Zhiyong. The fund benchmarks against the CSI Hong Kong Connect Composite Index (80% weighting). Currently in subscription (December 18, 2025–January 9, 2026), its launch raises questions given both managers' histories: Lei's Morgan Stanley Mass Innovation A also underperformed by 33.75% over three years.
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