The former Yu'ebao "steward" has returned to public funds!
Recently, multiple media outlets reported that starting from August 1, 2025, Wang Dengfeng has transferred from BlackRock Credit Alpha Fund to BlackRock Fund, assuming the role of Chief Financial Officer at BlackRock Fund.
Information from the Fund Industry Association's official website shows that Wang Dengfeng's fund industry qualification records have been updated, with his employment institution changed to BlackRock Fund on August 7, 2025. This signifies Wang Dengfeng's return to the public fund market.
Wang Dengfeng joined Tianhong Fund in May 2012, serving as a fixed income researcher and fund manager. Starting in August of the same year, Wang managed the Tianhong Cash Manager Money Market Fund.
In May 2013, Tianhong Fund launched the world's largest and most famous money market fund - "Yu'ebao." Wang Dengfeng, as the inaugural fund manager, began managing Yu'ebao. In September 2023, Wang resigned from all managed funds and left Tianhong Fund, drawing market attention.
Wang Dengfeng managed Yu'ebao for 10 years, during which Yu'ebao's peak scale exceeded 1.6 trillion yuan, with cumulative returns reaching 35%, providing many investors with a stable investment venue. The market once referred to Wang Dengfeng as the "Yu'ebao steward."
After leaving Tianhong Fund, Wang joined BlackRock Credit Alpha Fund, serving as Deputy General Manager and Chief Fixed Income Investment Officer.
Unexpectedly, after just over a year, Wang transferred from BlackRock Credit Alpha Fund to BlackRock Fund, returning once again to the public fund industry.
BlackRock Fund was established in September 2020, nearly five years ago, making it China's first wholly foreign-owned public fund company. Over the past year, BlackRock Fund's management has undergone significant changes. In February 2024, Fan Hua, General Manager of BlackRock Credit Alpha Fund, joined BlackRock Fund as Chairman.
In March 2025, Chen Jian, who had served as General Manager for over a year, resigned and was reassigned to other positions within BlackRock Fund, while Yu Beihua, former General Manager of SPDB-AXA Fund, was appointed as the new General Manager.
Five months later, BlackRock Fund brought in Wang Dengfeng as Chief Financial Officer. It is understood that Chief Financial Officer is a newly established position at BlackRock Fund.
Whether through management changes or Wang Dengfeng's addition, BlackRock Fund appears to be undergoing transformational development, seemingly preparing major moves in the fixed income sector.
Regarding Wang Dengfeng's addition, BlackRock Fund stated that Wang has extensive experience in the domestic market, possesses forward-looking perspectives and broad industry resources, and his joining will help BlackRock Fund strengthen its fixed income platform and expand its product portfolio.
BlackRock Fund's focus on the fixed income sector may be related to its slow asset growth.
In September 2021, BlackRock Fund launched its first public fund product - BlackRock China New Vision. As the first product from China's first wholly foreign-owned public fund company, leveraging the background of parent company BlackRock Group, BlackRock China New Vision was highly successful, raising 6.68 billion yuan.
With the fundraising scale of its first equity product, BlackRock Fund's public fund assets under management reached 6.248 billion yuan by the end of 2021.
Subsequently, BlackRock Fund launched additional products including BlackRock Hong Kong Stock Connect Vision Mixed Fund and BlackRock Advanced Manufacturing One-Year Hold Mixed Fund, but none matched the fundraising scale of the inaugural product.
While BlackRock Fund's product count increased, its assets under management declined. Wind data shows that by the end of 2022, BlackRock Fund managed 4 products (combining multiple share classes), with total public fund assets of 5.398 billion yuan, a decrease of over 800 million yuan compared to when it had only one product.
The scale reduction was due to significant performance decline in BlackRock Fund's first product, BlackRock China New Vision, leading to asset shrinkage.
Taking BlackRock China New Vision Class A as an example, the fund's net asset value declined 18.89% throughout 2022, and cumulatively dropped 19.97% from inception to the end of 2022.
The significant decline in fund net asset value, combined with investor redemptions, led to substantial asset shrinkage. By the end of 2022, BlackRock China New Vision's net asset value was 4.405 billion yuan, a reduction of 1.8 billion yuan compared to initial fundraising.
The setback in equity products led BlackRock Fund to make adjustments, beginning to focus on the fixed income sector, particularly bonds.
Since 2023, BlackRock Fund has increased its deployment in fixed income. As of June 30, 2025, BlackRock Fund has launched 8 bond products, accounting for half of its total product count.
With the fixed income focus and substantial deployment in bond products, BlackRock Fund's public fund scale improved. Wind data shows that by the end of 2024, BlackRock Fund's public fund assets under management exceeded the 10 billion yuan threshold, reaching 10.785 billion yuan, with bond product assets totaling 7.032 billion yuan.
However, this improvement was short-lived. Since 2025, BlackRock Fund's public fund assets have declined again. Wind data shows that as of June 30, 2025, BlackRock Fund's public fund assets under management were 6.86 billion yuan, a decrease of 3.925 billion yuan from the end of 2024, representing a 36.39% decline.
When BlackRock Fund launched its first product, the company's total scale was 6.68 billion yuan. By the end of the first half of 2025, with 16 products, the scale was 6.86 billion yuan. Over more than four years, despite product expansion, BlackRock Fund's public fund assets under management have essentially remained stagnant.
Observations indicate significant shrinkage in BlackRock Fund's bond products. As of June 30, 2025, the company's bond product assets under management were 3.117 billion yuan, a decrease of 3.915 billion yuan from the end of 2024, representing a 55.67% decline.
The focused deployment in fixed income helped BlackRock Fund increase its scale for a period, but sustained and stable development requires continued investment in fixed income and enhancement of the product portfolio.
Wang Dengfeng's transfer may represent BlackRock Fund's major move to intensify transformation and development in the fixed income sector. Wang possesses extensive experience in fixed income, having managed Yu'ebao for 10 years at Tianhong Fund and long-term management of money market products. BlackRock Fund may leverage Wang's experience to create its own money market fund.
Beyond management experience, Wang's addition may also help BlackRock Fund deepen cooperative relationships with internet platforms and broaden sales channels for its products.
Can Wang Dengfeng's addition help create BlackRock Fund's own "Yu'ebao"? Can it further enhance BlackRock Fund's development in the fixed income sector and drive scale growth? We will continue to monitor these developments!
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