Everbright Wealth Management product experiences massive redemptions, with the annual return rate dropping to -14.27%

Reporter Liú Dàjiāng; Intern Reporter Péng Fēi

Affected by recent adjustments in the stock market and bond market, volatility in the bank wealth management market has intensified. Many fixed-income products in the low- and mid-risk categories have also seen net asset value (NAV) drawdowns and falling yields. Among them, a product under China Everbright Wealth Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “China Everbright Wealth Management”) has drawn particular attention. Not only has its NAV dropped sharply over the past three months, but its annualized return since the beginning of the year has also fallen to -14.27%.

Yield drops sharply

A reporter’s inquiry found that a product under China Everbright Wealth Management called “Sunshine Jin Zengli Steady Every-Day Purchase Customized (90-Day Minimum Holding) No. 2 A” has shown negative growth in NAV for three consecutive months since 2026. In particular, starting from January 20 of this year, the NAV trend began to fall noticeably. As of March 24, the product’s NAV drawdown since the beginning of the year was 3.2%, placing it near the top among all fixed-income products in terms of drawdown magnitude.

In addition to the sharp NAV drawdown, this product’s yield in recent periods has also fallen significantly, with severe losses already occurring since the beginning of the year. China Everbright Wealth Management’s official website shows that as of March 26, the product’s annualized yield over the most recent month was -8.35%. Its annualized yield over the past three months had already dropped to -13.15%, and its annualized yield since 2026 has further slid to -14.27%. In 2025, the product’s annualized yield was 4.73%. After the large drop this year, as of March 26, its annualized yield since inception was only 1.15%.

This relatively low-risk, fixed-income product from China Everbright Wealth Management was established in December 2024. The initial fundraising size was RMB 10 million. Its initial performance comparison benchmark was 2.05% to 2.55%. After three benchmark cuts during the period, the latest benchmark has been reduced to 1.15% to 2.05%, with the largest reduction reaching 90 BP.

The magnitude of this product’s year-to-date yield decline is not common among low-risk publicly offered wealth management products in the entire wealth management market. Standing in sharp contrast to the product’s sharp yield decline is the fact that, in its product introduction on the official website, China Everbright Wealth Management states that the “Sunshine Jin” series products are a “fixed-income” product line of the company, mainly positioned for an “absolute return” strategy.

If the product’s annualized yield continues to fall, its “absolute return” will be difficult to guarantee. At the same time, there is also a possibility that the product could be terminated early or liquidated. Investors who continue holding the product face uncertainty.

The product’s investment report for the fourth quarter of 2025 shows that as of the end of the period, the product size was only about RMB 169,800. Of the top ten holdings, only demand deposits remained, accounting for 37.53%. Meanwhile, as of the end of June 2025, the product size was still RMB 5.246 million. Among the top ten holdings, besides demand deposits and time deposits, there was also a private asset management product. As of the end of the first quarter of 2025, the product size was RMB 7.4543 million. In the top ten holdings, there was only one demand deposit; the rest were asset management products such as private and public offerings, as well as bonds.

Regarding the product’s current operating situation, the reporter, acting as an investor, asked China Everbright Wealth Management. The company replied that the product size in January 2026 fell from the prior rapid redemptions to about RMB 10,000. Due to redemption confirmation rules and product basic expense accrual, the product’s NAV experienced a sharp drop. The product’s NAV fluctuations were mainly caused by large redemptions; this is a short-term normal phenomenon, and the product is currently operating normally.

A person from the fixed-income investment and research department of a wealth management firm told the reporter that with the product’s remaining survival size of only about RMB 10,000, it already falls into a typical “mini liquidation edge” product. Its survival size is far below the operating threshold for typical wealth management products, and its management costs have already exceeded its returns, reducing the value of continued operation. In addition, its asset allocation is extremely single, with only demand deposits configured, resulting in an overly concentrated risk exposure and weak ability to withstand volatility.

“Large-scale redemptions by investors also reflect that the product’s returns did not meet expectations. NAV drawdowns led to a loss of trust, and the remaining funds dropped significantly. The product may be terminated early or liquidated. For institutions, this is also a clearing-out of existing low-efficiency assets.” The aforementioned person said.

Besides this “Sunshine Jin Zengli Steady Every-Day Purchase Customized (90-Day Minimum Holding) No. 2 A” product, China Everbright Wealth Management has also seen other products recently with NAV drawdowns and falling yields. The reporter’s research found that a product named “Sunshine Jin Zengli Every-Day Purchase (One-Year Minimum Holding) A” has had an annualized yield of -1.21% over the most recent month. Since early March, its NAV has also declined slightly. This is a mid-risk, fixed-income product. In addition, a product named “Sunshine Jin Zengli Steady LeXiang Every-Day Purchase No. 5 (7-Day Minimum Holding) A” has an annualized yield of -1.32% over the most recent month, and its NAV in March has also shown a slight decline.

Industry insiders believe that for China Everbright Wealth Management, its low-risk fixed-income products have seen NAV drawdowns and yields declining to negative since the beginning of the year. The main problem is the lack of a flexible volatility control mechanism. As a low- to mid-risk product, the “Sunshine Jin” series should focus on fixed-income assets with high liquidity and low volatility, yet there has been a case where one product’s maximum drawdown over nearly 3 months exceeded 3.2%. This indicates that during the company’s product operations, it did not establish a comprehensive NAV volatility early-warning mechanism. The company also lacked sufficient foresight of potential risks such as changes in market interest rates and volatility in credit bonds. As a result, it failed to promptly adjust its portfolio structure to hedge risks.

Regarding the situation, China Everbright Wealth Management stated that for the Zengli Steady series and the Zengli Steady LeXiang series, the short-term NAV drawdown this time was mainly affected by bond-market interest rate fluctuations and changes in market liquidity. This is a normal phase of volatility after the transition to NAV-based products, and is not caused by credit risk in the product or abnormal risk rating issues related to underlying assets.

For what measures it will take to address NAV drawdowns across multiple products, China Everbright Wealth Management replied that the company will, going forward, make three-pronged efforts: improving its ability for diversified allocation, strengthening and hardening risk-control discipline, and deepening “investor companionship.” Through these efforts, it will strive to optimize product performance in a complex market environment and work to create long-term, sustainable, steady returns for investors.

Lowering performance comparison benchmarks for multiple products

China Everbright Wealth Management is a wholly owned subsidiary of China Everbright Bank (601818.SH) and is one of 32 licensed wealth management subsidiaries. As of the end of 2025, the outstanding size of its wealth management products was about RMB 1.95 trillion, ranking among the top in wealth management subsidiaries.

Against the macro backdrop of continued declines in deposit interest rates and falling bond yields, leading wealth management subsidiaries—including China Everbright Wealth Management, Xingyin Wealth Management, CMB Wealth Management, and Postal Savings Wealth Management—have recently made significant reductions to the performance comparison benchmarks of many of their wealth management products.

Over the past two months, China Everbright Wealth Management has already adjusted its “Sunshine Jin Zengli Steady Every-Day Purchase” series products. For fixed-range products, benchmark cuts are generally 30–80 BP, and some products have directly canceled fixed values, instead fully linking them to the ChinaBond Index. Industry insiders believe that these adjustments are intended, on the one hand, to align with the new disclosure rules for asset management products to be implemented in September 2026 (which require benchmarks to be consistent and not adjusted arbitrarily). On the other hand, they also, to a certain extent, help clear the high-yield burden of existing stock products, matching the current market’s return center of 2.1% to 2.5%.

Since the beginning of this year, yields of various products in the wealth management market have generally declined. Data from Puyi Standards shows that as of the end of February 2026, over the past month, the annualized yield of cash management products was 1.25%, slightly down from the previous month. For fixed-income products, the average annualized yield over the past month was 2.16%, down sharply by 146 BP month-on-month. For hybrid products and equity products, the average annualized yields over the past month were 1.30% and 5.83%, respectively, and both also showed a downward trend month-on-month.

In a recent research report, Huabao Securities stated that wealth management subsidiaries must disclose in detail the basis and methodology used to calculate performance benchmarks, which should be strongly linked to investment strategy, underlying assets, and market performance. In principle, they may not adjust them arbitrarily. Traditional fixed-type benchmarks lack market-oriented logic and are prone to triggering frequent adjustments, which creates compliance pressure. At the same time, fixed-income asset yields have continued falling. It has become difficult for the wealth management asset side to support the previously higher fixed benchmarks. Combined with the regulatory crackdown on abnormal practices such as “rewarding yield rankings,” these together force the industry to shift toward more prudent and more truly disclosed return expectations.

Apart from requirements from regulators, industry insiders also believe that China Everbright Wealth Management’s frequent benchmark cuts for products in recent times reflect that during its NAV-based transformation, the company has not truly achieved a matching of risk and return. Going forward, it still needs to strengthen research and judgment and investment capability in areas such as risk forecasting, volatility response, and more precise asset allocation in order to better meet investors’ steady wealth management needs.

China Everbright Wealth Management replied that regarding position management, the company will: first, strictly control duration and leverage, shorten portfolio duration, reduce interest-rate risk, and keep leverage within the regulatory compliance range; second, strengthen credit selection by prioritizing high-rated, high-liquidity assets and strictly controlling the share of low-qualification credit bonds; third, adjust positions dynamically to hedge according to market conditions, flexibly adjusting exposure and increasing allocation to stabilizing-price assets such as certificates of deposit and short-term bonds to smooth volatility.

(Editor: Wen Jing)

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                                                            China Everbright Wealth Management