The era of FOF has begun. How can securities firms' asset management differentiate themselves and break through?

Cailian Press, March 8 — (Reporter Wang Yuling) In 2026, the FOF market remains vibrant, with new blockbuster products frequently launched by public funds. Wind data shows that in February alone, the market saw new public fund FOF shares totaling 25.986 billion, setting a new single-month record.

“Several FOF funds raised tens of billions in a single day at the start of the year, which is still very lively,” said an industry insider.

In a low-interest-rate environment, the wave of deposit substitution continues to drive demand for absolute return-oriented public FOFs; corporate wealth management needs are also fueling significant growth potential for private FOFs; and FOFs with multi-asset allocation features are becoming increasingly advantageous compared to traditional financial products. Facing this blue ocean, securities firms’ asset management divisions are accelerating their布局, striving to secure a foothold in the era of FOF.

In the competition within the FOF field, securities firms’ asset management divisions lack a standardized, unified approach. Instead, they leverage their own strengths, focusing on asset allocation, strategy innovation, and technological empowerment. From leading the pack to differentiated breakthroughs in niche markets, and to systematic refinement of operations, securities firms’ asset management is competing fiercely in this blue ocean of FOF. In the next phase, refined operations have become a consensus among all players.

Fighting for dominance in the FOF arena, securities firms’ asset management each have their own strategies

Among securities firms with public fund licenses, Guotai Haitong Asset Management, Caitong Asset Management, and Dongfanghong Asset Management have all布局养老FOF, considering it a long-term strategic direction. In the general FOF product sector, these firms have not adopted homogenized strategies but have instead pursued differentiated,特色化 development paths based on their own strengths.

When asked about the特色 of their company’s FOF business, Guotai Haitong Asset Management emphasized focusing on key client groups, practicing deep customization and a buy-side mindset. Vice President Zuo Xiuhai stated that the efficiency of generating excess returns through manager selection is decreasing. Guotai Haitong’s FOF team mainly focuses on top-down asset allocation capabilities. Currently, the company’s FOF efforts are primarily driven by market demand judgments: public FOFs emphasize absolute return attributes, aiming to meet “money+” and “fixed income+” deposit substitution needs. Private FOFs, on the other hand, focus on conservative and稳健的企业理财需求, as well as multi-asset allocation needs for affluent and high-net-worth individuals. According to sources, Guotai Haitong’s FOF management scale has exceeded 100 billion yuan.

Huatai Securities Asset Management’s private FOF business is relatively large, with platform empowerment being a prominent feature in the industry. Relying on the WeFund product customization platform introduced in recent years, Huatai has built multi-level services from a buy-side investment advisory perspective. By the end of 2025, Huatai Securities Asset Management’s FOF scale will surpass 50 billion yuan.

Dongfanghong Asset Management’s public FOF is noteworthy. As one of the early fund managers to systematically布局FOF业务, it has established a unique “投研顾” integrated system, gathering experts in多资产配置, quantitative investment, and other fields, continuously完善FOF产品线布局. In recent years, Dongfanghong’s FOF team has突破传统的股债二元拼盘模式, actively incorporating黄金, QDII, offshore bonds, and other多元资产 into investment management, continuously expanding sources of收益. By the end of 2025, Dongfanghong’s public FOF management scale will exceed 8 billion yuan.

Zhongtai Asset Management was one of the early adopters of多元资产配置理念, with its representative product Zhongtai Tianze稳健6个月持有混合（FOF）launched in 2023. It was among the few public FOFs at the time built from an asset allocation perspective, holding assets such as黄金, oil and gas, commodity futures, and offshore ETFs.

Caitong Asset Management specializes in fixed income FOF系列产品. Luo Shaowen, fund manager of the Caitong Tongda series FOF, explained that the products are designed as极低波动的固收+产品, considering low drawdown scenarios with high cost-performance ratios, making them suitable as short-term investment alternatives.

For securities firms’ asset management divisions with existing public fund licenses, running both公募 and私募FOF产品线已成为主流. However, for most firms that have not obtained public fund licenses, after completing the公募化改造 of their “参公大集合” at the end of last year, private FOFs have become an important突破口. This year, competition in the private FOF field is expected to intensify. Among leading asset managers, besides Huatai and Guotai Haitong, CITIC Securities Asset Management, Shenwan Hongyuan Asset Management, and CITIC Construction Investment Securities have all made significant efforts in private FOFs last year.

Huaxin Securities, representing small and medium-sized brokers, has also developed特色 through technological empowerment, making private FOFs a key business focus. Its FOF product lines are divided into four categories based on收益风险特征: “Fixed Income+,” “Low Volatility Arbitrage,” “Medium Volatility Hybrid,” and “Asymmetric High Volatility.” Currently, “Asymmetric High Volatility” is a recent重点方向, aiming to enable investors to actively participate in A-shares while防范短期回调风险.

Refined operations are the next consensus

Given that FOF products can precisely meet终端投资需求 in the asset management industry and have broad potential for expansion into investment advisory and wealth management fields, future competition in the FOF track will undoubtedly intensify. In response to increasingly fierce market competition,推动FOF产品创新与精细化运作 has become a consensus among all players.

Guotai Haitong Asset Management predicts that in the next three years, China’s FOF product scale will突破1.5 trillion yuan, with competition focusing on several major growth opportunities: absolute return public FOFs, corporate wealth management private FOFs, and multi-asset FOFs. From its organizational structure, the company has divided strategies into five small groups: equity quantitative, CTA, macro strategies, etc. “Our strategy granularity is becoming more refined, covering more asset classes such as overseas and commodities,” Zuo Xiuhai said.

Building on its existing FOF product layout, Dongfanghong Asset Management plans to develop a series of策略清晰,风格鲜明,偏量化的多资产产品, promoting innovation and refined operations. For example, fund manager Xu Yuning specializes in quantitative research and asset allocation, leveraging a strategy library and model iterations to support multi-asset allocation models, multi-strategy models, and alpha models.

Zhongtai Asset Management’s next step is to iterate towards细分市场FOF with clearer risk-return characteristics, such as fixed income-enhanced FOF,指数增强配置型FOF, and global multi-market investment FOF, to meet more特色化的投资理财需求. “In product planning, refining strategy granularity and expanding asset categories are key directions. We will mainly fill gaps in the wealth management market with more稳健型细分FOF products,” Zhongtai said.

Caitong Asset Management will further explore mid- to low-risk product lines based on current布局, such as multi-asset FOF, multi-factor quantitative strategy FOF, and dividend-enhanced fixed income+ FOF. Additionally, for products with high strategy adaptability, it will broaden investment options, such as dynamically adjusting multi-asset FOF based on risk parity models combined with liquidity, volatility, and valuation factors, to achieve multi-asset allocation while maintaining excess returns and improving long-term risk-adjusted performance.

Huaxin Securities’ FOF is based on主动管理 enabled by technology. The company has already built performance attribution systems—Dengta/Lampstand—on top of its two core systems, Qidian and N Vision. Moving forward, it will continue to leverage system advantages, integrating AI technology and addressing current challenges and pain points in FOF operations, to develop a特色的Fof投研系统 that standardizes, streamlines, and visualizes the entire business chain.