A recent "Wealth Black Card" benefits upgrade has triggered a crisis of millionaire client attrition for Alipay. On the first day of 2026, Alipay officially announced an upgrade to the "Wealth Black Card" privileges. The main changes include the addition of new Obsidian Card tiers S1 (requirement: 3 million RMB) and S2 (requirement: 6 million RMB), while existing V3 users were downgraded to mid-tier status within the "Wealth Black Card" system. Prior to this benefits upgrade, "Wealth Black Card" V3 users could directly claim fixed monthly perks worth approximately 150 RMB, including an 8.8 RMB phone bill rebate, a Starbucks coffee voucher, and a 100 RMB gas voucher. Following the upgrade, these fixed benefits previously available for direct monthly collection have been replaced by a system where users receive "V-Diamonds" based on their level, which must then be exchanged for the perks. Calculations reveal that the actual value of benefits for "Wealth Black Card" V3 users has significantly decreased. Some self-identified V3 users have complained online, stating that what used to be over 100 RMB worth of redeemable benefits per month has now shrunk to just over ten RMB. Another user commented, "I was just preparing to go home for the New Year holiday and noticed my VIP lounge access is gone."
The "Wealth Black Card" benefits upgrade has resulted in a downgrade of its appeal to millionaires. Public information shows that on April 18, 2016, Alipay launched a new Ant Membership system with four tiers - Mass Member, Gold Member, Platinum Member, and Diamond Member - based on user activity levels across Ant Group's products and services. Diamond, Platinum, and Gold Members represented the top 100,000, top 10 million, and top 100 million most active users globally, respectively. After establishing this user membership framework, in December 2017, emulating the "Private Banking" and "Wealth Management" client service models of traditional banks, Alipay introduced the "Wealth Black Card" membership system targeting high-net-worth individuals on its platform. This system aimed to provide diversified services, including privileges and wealth management, tailored to different tiers of affluent users. This time, Alipay's focus shifted from user activity to the total wealth held by users on its platform. The entry-level V1 "Wealth Black Card" requires average daily assets (including holdings in Yu'ebao, time deposits, funds, gold, etc., on Alipay) of at least 300,000 RMB over the past 30 days, while the highest tier, V3, required average daily assets between 1 million RMB (inclusive) and 3 million RMB. As high-net-worth individuals on Alipay, "Wealth Black Card" users could directly apply for Alipay Diamond Membership status, granting them access to all Diamond Member benefits in addition to their "Wealth Black Card" privileges. Eight years later, Alipay chose to further refine the "Wealth Black Card" benefits and elevate the user tier structure, introducing the new, higher-level S1 and S2 tiers, with S2 requiring average daily assets ≥ 6 million RMB. The users most adversely affected by this benefits upgrade are the former "Wealth Black Card" V3 users, who not only saw their status demoted from the top tier to a mid-level tier but also experienced a substantial reduction in the value of their benefits. Currently, some "Wealth Black Card" users have begun exploring alternative products in the market offering similar value, such as China Merchants Bank's "Golden Sunflower" service, WeChat's "Licaitong Diamond Member," and JD.com's "L6 Member." The comparable tier benefits offered by these platforms are distinctive and present strong competitive吸引力.
A comparison of primary benefits for million-RMB asset users across four major domestic wealth management platforms. Besides the membership perks, a significant reason these high-net-worth users opted for the "Wealth Black Card" was access to its premium wealth management service, "Wealth Black Card Xin Xuan" (Wealth Black Card Premium Selection). This service claims to have spent three years visiting 155 institutions, researching 500 fund managers, producing 2,300 research reports, and back-testing five years of historical performance to select the top 1% of products from over 10,000 options in the entire market. The related management team is also purportedly rigorously selected, covering public offerings, private offerings, and asset managers across the entire market. These managers reportedly conduct over 1,000 research visits annually to screen, study, include products in the pool, and provide ongoing tracking. So, how has the performance been? A review of the official "Wealth Black Card Xin Xuan" page reveals that it currently lists three product categories: "An·Xinxuan" (Safe Selection), "Wen·Xinxuan" (Stable Selection), and "Jin·Xinxuan" (Growth Selection).
The "An·Xinxuan" category includes 10 liquid wealth management products and one bond fund with a 6-month lock-up period, "Xingyin Changle 6 Months" (Xingyin Changle Half-Year Regular Open Bond C). The fund manager is Fan Taiqi from Xingyin Fund, and the product was established less than a month ago. Public information shows that Fan Taiqi, a Chinese national with a doctoral degree, previously worked at Founder Securities Asset Management Beijing Branch, Yingda Fund, and Yixinan Asset Management. He joined Xingyin Fund in November 2016 and currently serves as the Deputy General Manager of the Fixed Income Department and a Fund Manager. Although Xingyin Fund is not highly prominent in the public fund industry, as the deputy head of fixed income at the firm, the Xingyin Changle Half-Year Regular Open Bond A is considered one of Fan Taiqi's representative products. This fund, established nearly 8 years ago, has delivered a return of 42.48% under Fan's management, making it his best-performing bond fund, with a unit net value growth exceeding 2% in the past year. The recently issued C share class, with its top five holdings all being China Development Bank bonds, shows some promise.
The "Wen·Xinxuan" category includes products such as China Universal XIN Xiang Tian Li Six-Month Holding Mixed A, Dacheng An Xiang De Li Six-Month Holding Mixed A, Bank of China Heng Rui 180-Day Holding Bond A, Zhongou Rongyi Wending One-Year Holding Mixed A, plus four other products visible only to qualified investors. The first four listed products have generated returns between 3% and 7% over the past year, with Dacheng An Xiang De Li Six-Month Holding Mixed A achieving a unit net value increase of 6.76% in the past year. Product scale data is as of the end of September 2025. As a medium-risk hybrid fund偏向债券, Dacheng An Xiang De Li Six-Month Holding Mixed A was established on April 22, 2021. After over four years of operation, the fund's net asset size has plummeted from an initial 303 million RMB to a mere 18 million RMB as of the end of September 2025, qualifying it as an ultra-"mini fund" among mini funds.
Why is the scale of Dacheng An Xiang De Li Six-Month Holding Mixed A so small? Financial report data indicates that from 2021 through the first half of 2025, the fund's annual profits were 6.496 million RMB, -1.838 million RMB, -92,000 RMB, 2.179 million RMB, and 925,000 RMB respectively, with both its scale and performance being largely unimpressive. While the other products in the selection may have fund managers overseeing百亿规模 funds, they are generally not the core products under their management. The "Jin·Xinxuan" category primarily involves private placement and asset management products. Specific product information is only visible to qualified investors, with most requiring a minimum investment exceeding 1 million RMB and featuring a lock-up period of three years. Currently, as Alipay's "Wealth Black Card" benefits diminish and its wealth management products become increasingly mediocre, millionaires are showing growing interest in alternative products available elsewhere.
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