On January 20, China Post Wealth Management announced that, due to the recent decline in risk-free interest rates and the continuous downward trend in the 10-year government bond yield, the overall return on bond assets has been decreasing. Based on current market changes, the performance benchmark for its Wealth Xinxin Xiangrong RMB wealth management product will be adjusted from 3.00%-4.00% (annualized) to 2.50%-3.50% (annualized), effective January 23.
In the past month, wealth management subsidiaries, including ABC Wealth Management, Bank of Shanghai Wealth Management, CMB Wealth Management, and China Post Wealth Management, have lowered the performance benchmarks for their products, with some reductions reaching as high as 100 basis points.
Beyond performance benchmarks, the actual returns on bank wealth management products are also on a persistent decline. According to Puyi Standard data, by the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, the average annualized return over the past month for all open-end fixed-income wealth management products (excluding cash management products) in the market was 3.40%. By the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, this figure had dropped to 2.27%, representing a decrease of 1.13 percentage points over the period.
Bu Zhenxing, a special researcher invited by the Insurance Asset Management Association of China, stated that the significant downward adjustments to wealth management performance benchmarks are primarily influenced by falling bond yields. The bond market is expected to remain relatively stable in 2026, which may potentially reverse this rapid declining trend.
Performance benchmarks are being intensively lowered, with new products experiencing even greater reductions.
On January 20, ABC Wealth Management announced substantial reductions to the performance benchmarks of several of its products.
According to the announcement, due to the decline in the static yield of bond assets and a shift in the asset return center compared to previous periods, ABC Wealth Management adjusted the performance benchmark for its ABC Anxin · Lingdong 7-Day RMB Wealth Management Product (Corporate Exclusive). Effective February 3, 2026, the benchmark was adjusted from 2.20%-3.20% (annualized) to 1.70%-2.20%, with the upper limit of the benchmark being cut by 100 basis points. Concurrently, the performance benchmark for the ABC Tongxin · Lingdong 75-Day Preferred Allocation Wealth Management Product (Corporate Preferred) was adjusted from 2.20%-3.20% to 1.95%-2.30%, effective April 13, 2026.
Additionally, Bank of Shanghai Wealth Management recently lowered the benchmarks for several of its products. For example, the performance benchmark for its "Xin Xiang Li" series open-end (6-month) wealth management product was adjusted from 2.24%-3.44% to 1.58%-2.78% effective January 21, 2026, a reduction of 66 basis points.
Based on incomplete statistics, since the beginning of 2026, numerous wealth management subsidiaries, including China Post Wealth Management, BoCom Wealth Management, Bank of Shanghai Wealth Management, Industrial Wealth Management, ChinaAMC Wealth Management, CMBC Wealth Management, CMB Wealth Management, and Ping An Wealth Management, have issued announcements adjusting the performance benchmarks for their products, involving hundreds of products. Looking at the adjusted benchmarks, the upper limit of the annualized yield for most products has fallen below 3%.
Puyi Standard monitoring data shows that in the fourth quarter of 2025, among all wealth management products sold on the market, the average performance benchmark for open-end products was 2.15%, down 0.1 percentage points quarter-on-quarter; the average for closed-end products was 2.38%, down 0.10 percentage points quarter-on-quarter. In the fourth quarter of 2024, the average benchmarks for open-end and closed-end products on sale were 2.6% and 2.75%, respectively. This calculation indicates that compared to Q4 2024, the average performance benchmarks for products on sale in Q4 2025 fell by 45 basis points and 37 basis points for open-end and closed-end products, respectively.
In fact, alongside the intensive downward adjustments for existing products, the performance benchmarks for newly issued products are also continuously declining, and the magnitude of the decrease is higher than that for products currently on sale.
According to Puyi Standard data, the average performance benchmark for newly issued open-end products across the market in Q4 2025 was 1.89%, down 0.20 percentage points quarter-on-quarter; the average for newly issued closed-end products was 2.38%, down 0.10 percentage points quarter-on-quarter. In Q4 2024, the average benchmarks for newly issued open-end and closed-end products were 2.46% and 2.75%, respectively. This implies that compared to Q4 2024, the average benchmark for newly issued open-end products in Q4 2025 fell by 57 basis points year-on-year, while the average for newly issued closed-end products fell by 37 basis points.
Zhou Yiqin, founder of Guantiao Consulting and a senior expert in financial regulatory policy, stated that the recent intensive lowering of performance benchmarks by wealth management companies is mainly due to the continuously declining yields of underlying assets. In a low-interest-rate environment, returns on mainstream allocation assets like bonds continue to fall, and high-coupon assets are scarce. Furthermore, financial regulators have imposed more detailed requirements on performance benchmarks, strictly prohibiting misleading expectations. Consequently, wealth management companies need to set benchmarks prudently to avoid significant deviations between actual returns and the benchmarks. Coupled with fee reductions and profit concessions, this aims to stabilize investor expectations and reduce redemption pressure triggered by products falling below their net asset value.
A recent research report from Everbright Securities indicated that the performance benchmarks for fixed-income wealth management products are still expected to face downward pressure. Looking ahead to 2026, under the "moderately accommodative" monetary policy tone, the central bank's "general gate" is expected to be neither too loose nor too tight, maintaining ample liquidity, with a neutral forecast of 1-2 potential policy rate cuts, alongside simultaneous efforts to manage bank liability costs. Against this backdrop, on one hand, broad-spectrum interest rates hovering at relatively low levels with a fluctuating trend may lower the comprehensive return on bonds; on the other hand, further deposit cost control measures are imminent, which will persistently drag down wealth management returns.
Actual yields continue to decline but remain higher than bank time deposits.
Many wealth management subsidiaries have emphasized in their announcements that performance benchmarks are investment targets set based on product nature, investment strategy, past experience, and market changes. They are not expected yields, do not represent the future performance or actual returns of the product, and do not constitute a promise of product returns.
Market conditions show that the actual returns on bank wealth management products are also continuously decreasing.
Puyi Standard statistics indicate that in the fourth quarter of 2025, the annualized returns for open-end fixed-income products (excluding cash management) across all maturities declined across the board. The return over the past 3 months fell by 0.36 percentage points quarter-on-quarter to 2.25%, a relatively significant drop. Returns on cash management products also continued their downward trend, with the return over the past year falling 0.12 percentage points to 1.44%, remaining at low levels.
"Overall, against the backdrop of a persistently accommodative monetary environment and low market interest rates, wealth management product returns generally face downward pressure. However, due to differences in maturity structure, asset allocation, and valuation methods among different product types, their short-term performance also shows some divergence," Puyi Standard noted.
Currently, as deposit rates continue to fall, the phenomenon of "deposit migration" is ongoing. Although returns have declined, they still hold some attractiveness compared to time deposit products of various maturities. The 5-year time deposit rate at major state-owned banks has already fallen to 1.3%, and many banks' large-denomination certificate of deposit rates have entered the "0% range."
A recent research report from China Post Securities indicated that against the current backdrop of continuously declining deposit rates and rising resident wealth reallocation needs, wealth management products still play an important role in承接 low-risk funds and achieving stable returns.
Bu Zhenxing stated that bank wealth management products, with their low-risk, low-volatility characteristics, are expected to become the preferred choice for depositors shifting funds and will be recognized by conservative investors. In his view, several types of products are likely to be popular with investors currently. First are products with stable returns that can meet their benchmarks. Additionally, influenced by the good performance of the equity market, "fixed-income+" products, which allow for moderate profit pursuit, will also be recognized.
It is worth mentioning that to attract investors, several wealth management subsidiaries have recently announced certain fee preferential policies for their products. For example, CMBC Wealth Management announced on January 21 that during the issuance of its CMBC Wealth Management Guizhu Fixed Income Enhanced Daily Profit No. 33 product, from January 26 to February 26, the fixed management fee would be reduced from 0.5% to 0.01%, and from January 26 to March 31, the sales fee for Share Class A would be reduced from 0.5% to 0.05%.
The aforementioned China Post Securities report mentioned that the proactive "fee reduction" by wealth management subsidiaries reflects their active adjustment to stabilize scale and enhance attractiveness through "profit concessions." However, in terms of actual sales effectiveness, wealth management products still lag behind funds in terms of channel coverage breadth and product accessibility. Some products, limited by distribution channels, customer risk level matching, and face-to-signature requirements, struggle to reach the entire customer base. On the other hand, although fee reductions somewhat alleviate customer sensitivity to return drawdowns, performance assessments for client managers and potential customer complaint pressure triggered by products "breaking net" remain significant constraints. Especially during periods of increased equity market volatility, sales channels remain cautious about recommending equity-included wealth management products.
"Overall, fee reductions help improve the cost-effectiveness and阶段性 competitiveness of wealth management products. However, without simultaneous optimization of sales incentive mechanisms, risk constraints, and channel efficiency, their role in promoting equity participation and product innovation still faces marginal constraints," the report stated.
