International gold prices surged earlier in the year before pulling back, and are now oscillating widely at elevated levels. Against this backdrop, the gold-related business landscape among banks is accelerating its restructuring: gold-themed wealth management products that sold well in the first half of the year have seen a marked slowdown in issuance during the second half, while in sharp contrast, accumulated gold plans at multiple banks have gained momentum.
On the gold-themed wealth management product front, data from Puyi Standard shows that as of November 1, there were 24 outstanding wealth management products with "gold" in their names. The vast majority of these were established in the first half of the year; in the second half, only Bank of Beijing Wealth Management issued two products, with other institutions largely suspending issuance. Multiple bank wealth managers also confirmed that new issuance of gold-themed wealth products contracted significantly in the second half, with most institutions voluntarily pausing independent filings for such products. Some existing products have suspended new subscriptions, retaining only existing shares for continued operation.
While the issuance side has cooled, performance divergence among gold-themed wealth products continues to intensify. As gold prices retreated rapidly from highs, product net asset values with higher precious metals exposure saw notable drawdowns, and the return gap among similar products widened significantly. Puyi Standard data shows that the average annualized return for relevant products in 2026 so far stands at 1.26%, with a high of 3.70% and a low of -0.33%.
Beyond market factors such as gold price volatility, upgraded risk controls and the implementation of new regulatory rules are also key reasons for the contraction in gold wealth product supply. On September 1 this year, the Measures for the Administration of Information Disclosure of Asset Management Products of Banking and Insurance Institutions officially took effect, objectively raising the thresholds for issuance, information disclosure, and marketing of relevant products. Zeng Gang, Dean of the Tianfu Liyan Institute of Finance, stated that the cooling of gold wealth product issuance is the result of both short-term market conditions and long-term regulatory constraints. The pullback in gold prices from highs has raised entry costs, and combined with weakening net asset values of some products, this has directly suppressed investor willingness to subscribe, slowing institutional issuance pace. In the long run, the new information disclosure rules require full exposure of product risks, and coupled with tightened internal quantitative drawdown assessments, institutions will proactively and prudently control their gold asset exposure. However, the new rules do not restrict gold wealth product issuance, and drawdown control does not equate to a return guarantee. Issuance is expected to recover once gold prices stabilize, but strict drawdown control and refined risk management will become long-term trends.
While gold wealth products are proactively reducing supply, bank accumulated gold plans are continuously expanding. Multiple banks have successively launched activities such as fee waivers, tiered discounts, and fixed investment subsidies, with offline consultations and fixed investment clients increasing noticeably. Although both are linked to gold prices, the return logic and risk-responsibility allocation of the two product types are entirely different. Gold-themed wealth products are net-value asset management products issued by wealth management subsidiaries, where institutions manage portfolios and hedge risks, bearing redemption, customer complaint, and risk control assessment pressures arising from net value fluctuations — this is a business where banks retain the risk. Accumulated gold plans are merely transaction channel businesses; banks do not actively invest, and gold price risk is borne by investors themselves. Banks only earn fees, with lower capital, public opinion, and risk control costs.
Xue Hongyan, a special researcher at Suning Bank, stated that this business divergence is essentially a risk restructuring of banks' retail gold businesses, driving a reallocation of risk between institutions and investors. Although gold wealth products are required to have self-borne risk under asset management rules, implicit expectations of guaranteed returns in the market still bring reputational pressure to banks, prompting institutions to proactively contract supply and reduce risk exposure and public opinion pressure. Accumulated gold plans, by contrast, have clear rights and responsibilities — gold price fluctuation risk is borne by investors, and banks are only responsible for quotation and compliant operations, resulting in less risk pressure. Tilting business toward accumulated gold plans not only meets regulatory risk isolation requirements but also helps banks develop light-capital intermediary businesses, while also placing higher demands on investor suitability management.
Looking ahead at the industry landscape, Xue Hongyan believes the gold sector will move away from homogeneous expansion toward layered and differentiated development. Gold wealth products will return to being asset allocation tools, with scale remaining stable and rapid expansion unlikely to recur; products will strengthen drawdown control and add hedging tools, with market share concentrating among leading wealth management subsidiaries with outstanding investment research and risk control capabilities. Accumulated gold plans will continue to expand, serving mass fixed investment and long-term allocation; physical gold and account trading products will each have their own positioning, forming a diversified landscape of "wealth products for allocation, accumulation plans for fixed investment, physical gold for collection, and trading products for swing trading."
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