Recently, third-party wealth management companies have frequently staged farces. At the beginning of December, JD.com and Gopher Assets successively issued strong responses to the "Chengxing case", and then the payment of Haiyin Wealth fixed-income wealth management products was delayed. Time and time again, third-party wealth management has been pushed to the forefront. Is third-party wealth management still safe and compliant?Why does the third-party wealth management market frequently "thunder"?The problem is **?"Misplaced" third-party wealth management
In the past few years, various third-party wealth management platforms such as Hywin Wealth, Evergrande Wealth, and Noah Wealth have emerged. Directly facing high-net-worth investors and holding a large number of customer resources, there are still some "gray areas" behind the development of third-party wealth management platforms in full swing. Count the chaos of third-party wealth management in recent years, such as violations**, employee fraud, overdue private placement products, and ...... of senior executives running awayThird-party wealth management market risks continue to emerge. Some experts bluntly said that these chaos is a serious dislocation in the development of third-party wealth management platforms. Different from banks, insurance and other financial institutions, third-party wealth management platforms should be independent intermediary service providers with clear boundaries of responsibilities and rights, and efficiently match assets and funds from an objective and neutral perspective with their professional capabilities. However, the reality isSome third-party wealth management platforms are highly related to the main business of the parent company or group at the beginning of their establishmentNot only is it detached from the original intention of "independence", but the investment of funds of some third-party wealth management platforms has also buried hidden risks. Zhongzhi, Evergrande, Haiyin, etc. are typical examples. "Third-party wealth companies are highly related to the parent company or group, and even become the 'money bag' of the parent company or group, and part of the business is self-financing. Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of Zhaolian, said, "This buries the risk from the root, and the risk of the parent company or group is easily transmitted to the wealth management company." ”The quality of the staff is uneven
The impartiality that cannot be guaranteed and the high risk of capital investment are not the only factors that lead to the accumulation of third-party wealth management risksThe problem is also affected by many aspects. The Financial Times reporter learned in an interview that the third-party wealth management market, which gathers a large number of high-net-worth groups, has become an active place for "sales brokers". "Compared with formal financial institutions, third-party wealth management companies have a small business scale, high concentration and complex related-party transactions, so they need to strengthen risk management. Dong Ximiao told the Financial Times that the quality and ability of most third-party wealth management companies are uneven, often based on salespeople illegally promising guaranteed returns to investors, or even selling false investment products. Investors' own lack of awareness of risk prevention and weak risk identification ability also give these personnel an opportunity. Experts said that some investors are easily confused by the labels of "central enterprises", "state-owned enterprises" and "listed companies" attached by third-party wealth management companies, and some investors over-pursue returns and ignore product and service risks, "These are also a major factor in the large number of third-party wealth platform-related products issued and risk accumulation." ”Jointly promote the rectification of the industry
At present, the rectification of the third-party wealth management market, risk prevention and resolution have been highly valued by relevant departments. Pan Gongsheng, Governor of the People's Bank of China, stressed in his report on financial work in October 2023 that illegal financial activities should be severely cracked down. We will further promote the rectification of risks such as "fake gold exchanges" and third-party wealth management companies, severely crack down on illegal fundraising, and resolutely curb the speculation of domestic virtual currency transactions. Jin Wei, Vice Mayor of Beijing, also said at the launching ceremony of the 2023 "Financial Consumer Rights Protection Education and Publicity Month" that it is necessary to continue to resolve financial risks in key areas, continue to optimize the work system, continue to prevent and crack down on illegal fundraising, and steadily resolve risks such as third-party wealth management companies and virtual currency transactions. In the chaotic development environment of third-party wealth management for many years, a question that must be considered is:How should the industry clean up and standardize and resolve risks?"There are a large number of third-party wealth management companies, and their products and services involve a large number of investors, so we should attach great importance to the spillover of their risks, adhere to the best and local coordination, adhere to the principle of rule of law and marketization, formulate risk mitigation plans on the basis of comprehensive surveys, and gradually reduce stock risks. Dong Ximiao believes that before the stock risk is cleared, it is also necessary to strictly control the incremental business. Supervise and guide third-party wealth management companies to withdraw from high-risk and non-compliant businesses. Institutions that have obtained the corresponding business qualifications are required to strengthen the suitability management of investors and sell suitable products to suitable customers for **consignment, insurance** and other businesses. "Third-party wealth management companies only need general industrial and commercial qualifications to be established, and then apply for relevant qualifications or licenses from financial management departments according to the different businesses they operate, and the access is relaxed or even has no access standards. A financial practitioner said. In this regard, some experts suggest that it is necessary to establish a regulatory coordination mechanism for third-party wealth management companies to strengthen behavioral supervision, functional supervision and penetrating supervision. For example, before approving market entities with the words "wealth", "wealth management" and "asset management", the local government should obtain the consent of the financial management department. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen investor education, improve investors' financial literacy, and enhance investors' awareness and ability to prevent risks. More Perspectives:
Fang Yi, professor and doctoral supervisor of the National Institute of Development and Strategy of Chinese University, talks about third-party wealth management
Financial Times: Recently, there have been a number of risk events in third-party wealth management institutions, such as problems with Zhongzhi and Noah, what do you think is the reason?Fang Yi: Third-party wealth management institutions are not only opportunities, but also risks and challenges in the era of large wealth management. Taking Zhongzhi as an example, in the month of 2023, its four wealth management companies will have payment problems. From the point of view of specific products, the main problems in the planting system are fixed and melted products. On the premise of promising high returns, the bottom layer of financial products is not the "hematopoiesis" of high-quality assets, but the "tearing down the east wall and making up the west wall" of capital operation. In this way, financial risks will only continue to accumulate with the repayment of old loans. At present, there are no laws and regulations to supervise third-party wealth management institutions, and the development of the industry lacks clear entry thresholds and business norms. At the same time, from the brewing of financial risks to the eventual occurrence of problems, although there are early warnings of risk signals, investors do not receive effective risk warnings and auxiliary information. This also shows that in the era of large wealth management, it is more necessary to comprehensively improve financial supervision to alleviate the serious information asymmetry in the market and eliminate industry chaos. Financial Times: How can we get the market on the right track?What kind of regulation is needed to reduce the occurrence of risk?Fang Yi: ** The Financial Work Conference clearly proposed to "comprehensively strengthen financial supervision". In fact, the era of great wealth management requires comprehensive financial regulation. First of all, supervision needs to achieve full coverage of wealth management formats. All kinds of financial institutions such as bank wealth management, trust, securities company asset management, and insurance asset management are involved in wealth management, and it is necessary to strengthen regulatory coordination, unify regulatory standards, and improve the close coordination of prudential supervision, functional supervision, behavior supervision, and market supervision, so as to form a joint regulatory force. Second, supervision needs to improve the level of digitalization and intelligence. Through the use of regulatory technology, we will promote prudent management, compliance operation and risk management and control in the wealth management industry, enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of supervision, prevent the resurgence of risks, and effectively enhance the forward-looking and penetrating nature of supervision. Finally, regulators need to start creating a healthy ecosystem for wealth management. Comprehensively strengthen the supervision of wealth management institutions, capital markets and listed companies, and create a virtuous circle between residents, the financial system and real enterprises in the whole process of "capital allocation - capital use". Everybody is watching
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* Punished for violating the law, arguing that "losses of more than 300 million yuan" and "economic difficulties".
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