Newly launched wealth management products frequently face setbacks: Why are fixed-income products losing popularity?

◎Reporter Chen Jiayi

Recently, several bank wealth management subsidiaries announced that newly issued wealth management products failed to launch because the subscription amounts did not meet the minimum issuance scale specified in the product prospectus. Among them, fixed-income wealth management products have become the hardest hit area.

Multiple industry insiders told the Shanghai Securities Journal that the aforementioned phenomenon is the result of multiple factors, including supply side, demand side, channel side, and market environment. In a low-interest-rate environment, the yield space of fixed-income products has been compressed, significantly weakening their appeal to investors. In addition, the severe homogenization of wealth management products and the mismatch between product supply and investor demand have also led to the cold reception of product issuance.

In response to the above phenomenon, interviewees believe that wealth management companies should actively adapt to market changes and seek to change in areas such as optimizing product layout, improving channel construction, and enhancing investor engagement.

Several wealth management products have failed to issue this year.

On March 25, Xinyin Wealth Management announced that the Xinyin Wealth Management Anying Xiang Fixed Income Stable Income Closed-End No. 332 wealth management product failed to launch because the subscription amount did not reach the minimum scale specified in the product prospectus (5 million RMB). According to the prospectus, this wealth management product will not be established.

The Shanghai Securities Journal found through Wind data that there have been numerous cases of wealth management products failing to issue due to not reaching the minimum fundraising scale. According to incomplete statistics, since the beginning of the year, a total of 36 wealth management products in the entire market have failed to issue, a significant increase compared to the same period last year. Among them, most are fixed-income wealth management products, with a majority being closed-end products.

Data monitored by Puyi Standard shows that in February 2026, the entire market issued a total of 2,018 new wealth management products, a decrease of 522 products month-on-month, of which 397 were open-end products with an average performance benchmark of 1.85%; and 1,621 were closed-end products with an average performance benchmark of 2.35%.

In the existing market, many wealth management products have also announced early termination. For example, on March 24, Ping An Wealth Management announced that, after a comprehensive evaluation of the actual operation of the products by the product manager, according to the corresponding terms in the product prospectus, it would terminate four fixed-income wealth management products early on March 31, 2026. In early March, Bank of China Wealth Management announced that, due to the small existing scale of its three wealth management products, to protect investors’ rights, it decided to terminate the shares of the aforementioned three products early on March 11, 2026, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the product prospectus.

Attractiveness of yield levels declines.

According to interviewees, the frequent failures of fixed-income wealth management product issuances are the result of a combination of market environment, investor demand, product design, and industry competition.

Falling market interest rates have compressed the investment yield space of fixed-income wealth management products. “Recently, many bank wealth management products have lowered their performance benchmarks, and for investors, the current yield levels are indeed limited in attractiveness,” a bank wealth management investment manager told the Shanghai Securities Journal.

The mismatch between investor demand and product supply has further exacerbated the cold reception of wealth management products. “The increase in cases of failed fundraising for wealth management products reflects the mismatch between investor risk preferences and product supply,” said Liu Feipeng, a researcher at China Postal Savings Bank, to the Shanghai Securities Journal. The decline in deposit rates has driven funds to seek higher yields, and investors have become more sensitive to net value fluctuations, especially in the recent environment where various assets have declined, leading investors to adopt a wait-and-see attitude towards newly issued products. Closed-end fixed-income products have poor liquidity and long durations, which do not match the current demand for flexibility from investors.

In addition, severe product homogenization and insufficient core competitiveness are also important reasons for the failure of some product issuances. Wang Pengbo, a senior analyst in the financial industry at Botong Consulting, told the Shanghai Securities Journal that the current wealth management market has clear product homogenization, coupled with investors placing greater emphasis on liquidity, leading to a decline in acceptance of products with longer closed periods, while insufficient channel promotion and customer compatibility have jointly contributed to the cold reception of these products.

Shifting from scale expansion to stock game.

The “Annual Report on the Bank Wealth Management Market (2025)” shows that by the end of 2025, the existing scale of the bank wealth management market reached 33.29 trillion RMB, an increase of 11.15% compared to the beginning of the year. The entire market has a total of 46,300 products in existence, of which 97.09% are fixed-income products.

Although the wealth management market continues to expand, not all products will be popular. This uneven phenomenon reflects structural changes in the wealth management market.

“The wealth management market is shifting from scale expansion to stock competition, with investors becoming more rational, and the product supply side is also moving away from extensive issuance,” Wang Pengbo believes. From a supply-demand perspective, fundraising failures may become a normal phenomenon in the industry, as inappropriate product design and issuance rhythm from institutions are more likely to lead to inadequate fundraising.

How should wealth management companies respond to this change? Interviewees believe that wealth management companies must actively adapt to market changes and continuously work on optimizing product layout, improving channel construction, and enhancing investor engagement.

Wang Pengbo believes that wealth management companies should optimize product structures, increase open-end and liquidity-friendly designs, while enhancing investment research capabilities to create differentiated yield characteristics and accurately issue products that meet customer needs. In addition, they should control the issuance rhythm, strengthen channel collaboration and investor engagement, rebuild investor trust with stable performance, and promote stable market development.

Su Xiaorui, a senior researcher at Suxi Zhi Research, suggests: On one hand, wealth management companies can strengthen asset allocation, shifting from “fixed income-based” to “diversified and balanced” development; on the other hand, they can also enhance channel expansion and the wealth management full lifecycle service system, leveraging professional investment research capabilities and reliable customer engagement abilities to promote fund retention and enhance customer stickiness.