Recently, a number of bank wealth management subsidiaries such as ABC Wealth Management and China Post Wealth Management have intensively lowered the performance benchmark of their products. According to incomplete statistics from the reporter of the "International Financial News", the current reduction can be as large as 105 basis points.
The performance comparison benchmark is the investment objective set by the wealth management company based on the product nature, investment strategy, past experience and other factors, and does not represent the actual return of the product. Experts suggest that investors should not pay too much attention to the performance benchmark when buying bank wealth management products, but should refer to the actual performance and investment strategy of the product in the past, and make a rational choice based on their own risk tolerance and return expectations.
Performance benchmarks have been lowered.
Recently, a number of bank wealth management subsidiaries such as ABC Wealth Management, China Post Wealth Management, Huaxia Wealth Management, and CNCBI Wealth Management have issued intensive announcements to lower the performance benchmarks of many of their wealth management products.
On December 13, CNCBI Wealth Management adjusted the performance benchmark of a number of its products, one of which was reduced by as much as 105 basis points. According to the announcement, the performance benchmark of the Class A share of "CNCBI Wealth Management Multi-asset Multi-asset Stable Two-Year Fixed Opening No. 3 Wealth Management Product" will be compared from the previous 470%-5.70% to 365%-4.65%。The wealth management product is a fixed income product, which is mainly invested in bonds, non-standard and other debt assets, and at the same time thickens the investment in other types of assets such as equity with no more than 20%, so as to improve the portfolio return-risk ratio through macro asset allocation. At the same time, the announcement said that this is "based on the current macro economy, market interest rate level, equity market valuation level and other factors, after deducting relevant tax costs, the performance benchmark of the product is comprehensively obtained".
On the same day, ABC Wealth Management also issued five announcements in a row, saying that since the beginning of this year, major commercial banks have lowered deposit interest rates many times, and based on changes in the current market situation, they have adjusted the performance benchmarks of five interbank certificates of deposit and RMB wealth management products, including "ABC Ingenuity and Everyday Benefit" and "ABC Peace of Mind, Everyday Benefit", all of which have given a floating range of 40 basis points on the basis of the original benchmark. For example, one of the announcements shows that from December 18, 2023 (inclusive), the performance benchmark of the "ABC Peace of Mind and Everyday Benefit" RMB wealth management product (exclusive to the public) will be changed from 260% adjusted to 220%-2.60%。
In addition, China Post Wealth Management also issued an announcement earlier stating that "due to changes in the investment market environment", from December 22, 2023, the performance comparison benchmark of "Post Bank Wealth Hongjin One Year Fixed Opening No. 24 (Preferential for Payroll Customers)" will be changed from 38% to 42% (annualized) adjusted to 31% to 35% (annualized), a 70 basis point downward revision.
On the one hand, the bank lowered the performance benchmark due to the impact of market fluctuations after the transformation of product net worth, and the yield has declined, and if it is not adjusted in time, the deviation between the benchmark and the actual return is too large, which may mislead investors. On the other hand, bank wealth management is mainly invested in bond assets, and bonds** have a greater impact on product performance. Yao Xusheng, a partner of Paipaiwang Wealth Management, told reporters in an interview.
Ma Cheng, chairman of Juze Investment, believes that the downward revision of the performance benchmark indicates that banks have the need to control their own costs in the current environment where the economic recovery is less than expected and the level of domestic deposit interest rates is constantly decreasing. In addition, investment income is also on a downward trend. At the same time, in the medium and long term, China's interest rate level will continue to fall.
Benchmark ≠ real rate of return.
The reporter consulted the notices issued by various bank financial institutions and found that the specific reduction values announced were followed by such a paragraph: "The performance comparison benchmark is based on the investment objectives set by the product based on the nature of the product, investment strategy, past experience and other factors, not the expected rate of return, does not represent the future performance and actual income of the product, does not constitute a commitment to the product income, and the investment must be cautious." Some institutions also remind investors that the performance benchmark does not represent the future performance of wealth management products, and is not equal to the actual return, and investment must be cautious. The actual rate of return of wealth management products may be lower than the performance benchmark, or even no income can be obtained.
According to industry statistics, since 2021, the performance benchmark of bank wealth management has continued to decline, and the actual income of products is also declining. After the implementation of the new regulations on asset management, bank wealth management has broken the rigid payment of full net worth, and the performance comparison benchmark can only be used as a reference, not the actual income of the product. Yao Xusheng said.
For wealth management investors, how should they view the downward adjustment of product performance benchmarks?
Yao Xusheng told reporters that the lowering of the performance benchmark of net-worth products will not affect the actual returns of investors, but can avoid misleading investors when making investment decisions due to the inflated performance benchmark and protect the interests of investors. "When buying bank wealth management products, investors should not pay too much attention to the performance benchmark, but should refer to the actual performance and investment strategy of the product in the past, and make rational choices based on their own risk tolerance and return expectations. Yao Xusheng further suggested.
A downward adjustment does not necessarily mean that the actual return of the product will necessarily decrease, it only means that the performance of the product is lower than the expected return compared to the previously set target, and investors should pay attention to the actual return of the product and not pay too much attention to the so-called performance benchmark. Liu Yan, chairman of Anjue Assets, analyzed, "The actual return of the product is affected by a variety of factors, including market environment, product risk, investment strategy, etc., so investors should do more homework, understand the characteristics and risks of the product as comprehensively as possible, and make decisions based on their own investment objectives and risk tolerance." ”
Guosen** pointed out in the "Bank Wealth Management December 2023 Monthly Report" released on December 7 that the scale of bank wealth management stock maintained a recovery trend in November, and the stock scale at the end of the month was 268 trillion yuan, an increase of 03 trillion yuan. From the perspective of institutional structure, the overall scale of wealth management of large banks shrank throughout the year, and the wealth management of joint-stock banks and some high-quality urban commercial banks increased by more than 10% compared with the beginning of the year, but they have not yet returned to the high level of 2022. It is expected that by the end of this year, the scale of bank wealth management will not exceed the level of the industry at the end of 2022. At the same time, the research report pointed out that the benchmark for the performance of new products continued to decline in November, with an average of 343%。
How to choose financial products.
In the short term, bank wealth management products can still be invested, after all, the current market as a whole is not willing to invest strongly, PPI (industrial producers ** index) and PMI (purchasing managers' index) lower indicates that the current economy has not returned to the normal track, temporarily buy bank wealth management is a good investment option. It is recommended that investors buy some conservative wealth management products with high security and low risk. Ma Cheng pointed out.
In Liu Yan's view, bank wealth management products are still an investment choice worth considering. "Fixed income products represented by bonds in bank wealth management are a very stable investment channel. In general, bonds have relatively low risk and relatively stable returns. For some investors who pursue safety, it is a pretty good choice to choose some bank wealth management products that invest in reputable companies or ** issue bonds. Liu Yan analyzed.
In addition, on the basis of stability, investors can also consider some aggressive styles, such as in addition to bonds, but also invest in some bank wealth management products such as **, etc. Appropriate investment in certain equity products can increase the elasticity of income and provide higher potential income space, but it is also accompanied by higher risks. Liu Yan further suggested, "Investors need to carefully assess their investment objectives and risk tolerance, choose products suitable for themselves according to actual needs, fully understand the characteristics and risks of various products, diversify funds to reduce risks, and must pay attention to the high risks that may be brought by high-yield products when considering them, and pay attention to maintaining a long-term investment concept to avoid paying too much attention to the impact of short-term market fluctuations." ”