The effect of fee reductions benefiting profit-increasing ETFs is beginning to show

This article is reproduced from: Yangjiang Daily

2025 public offering performance insights:

Most profitable growth in both profits and revenues—ETF fee cuts and giveaways begin to show effect

With multiple listed banks and brokerages disclosing their 2025 annual reports, the 2025 operating data of the fund companies they hold controlling or minority stakes in has also been revealed.

According to incomplete statistics, as of the time the reporter was preparing this report, more than 40 fund companies have already released their 2025 performance “scorecards.”

Compared with 2024, when nearly half of fund companies saw their performance shrink, in 2025—when a sluggish bull market began and market risk appetite recovered—among the fund companies that have released data, 3/4 were profitable, and most fund companies also achieved growth in both earnings and profits. Among them, two fund companies—E Fund and Industrial and Commercial Ruiyin—saw net profits exceed 3 billion yuan each during the year, while 11 public offerings saw net profits surpass 1 billion yuan.

It is worth noting that by the end of 2025, China’s ETF market has already completed its concentrated round of fee reductions for more than a year, and its impact has begun to show up in the industry’s financial figures.

ETF fee-cut and giveaway effects become visible

In 2025, E Fund’s revenue and net profit continued to rank first in the industry. The annual report disclosed by GF Securities shows that last year E Fund achieved total operating revenue of 13B yuan, up 7.33% year over year; net profit was 3.81B yuan, down 2.42% year over year.

Although its industry position remains stable, a counterintuitive phenomenon is that, in the past, E Fund rarely saw “revenue growth without profit growth.” Data from Wind shows that over the past 10 years, the company only experienced “revenue growth without profit growth” in 2018. In 2024, while revenue year over year fell, net profit nevertheless maintained a 13.33% increase against the trend.

Some public-offering practitioners and reporters analyzed that this performance change may be closely related to the results of ETF fee cuts and giveaways in 2025.

In July 2023, the CSRC issued and implemented the “Work Plan for Fee Rate Reform in the Public Offering Fund Industry,” outlining a three-stage implementation path for public funds’ fee reductions: “management fees—transaction fees—sales fees.” The reporter learned that, based on static industry data over the past three years, this fee-reduction move is expected to save investors 51 billion yuan per year and reduce the overall fee rate level of public funds by about 20%.

Who is the dark horse?

Looking at the industry’s overall profitability, besides E Fund maintaining its top position, the biggest dark horse in 2025 is undoubtedly Industrial and Commercial Ruiyin Fund. Although it did not directly disclose its revenue figures, its net profit reached 3.01B yuan, up 42.51% year over year; compared with 2024, it surpassed GF Fund and Southern Fund in one leap and rose to second place on the ranking.

Right behind it, GF Fund (2.75B yuan, +37.70%) and Southern Fund (2.71B yuan, +15.05%) ranked third and fourth in the industry by net profit last year, with their year-over-year growth rates staying steady. 华夏基金 (2.4B yuan, +11.01%) and 富国基金 (2.21B yuan, +25.92%) ranked fifth and sixth in the industry in the same period.

In addition, Huatai Securities Asset Management, acting as a broker asset management representative, ranked 11th on the 2025 net profit ranking with net profit of 1.14B yuan and a high growth rate of 29.61%. Its revenue growth rate in the same period was also as high as 26.23%, making it a rapidly rising force within the top-tier camp.

Performance divergence among smaller and mid-sized public funds is significant

Among smaller and mid-sized public funds, the divergence in the survival landscape is even more pronounced.

The reporter noted that several brokerage asset management firms saw substantial growth in their 2025 performance.

Among them, the net profit of CITIC Guoan Securities Asset Management rose from 48M yuan in 2024, up 201.79% year over year, to 144M yuan at the end of last year, officially entering the billion-yuan level tier. The annual report of CITIC Guoan Securities Asset Management shows that during the reporting period, the company advanced the layout of pension funds and index funds; pension target funds’ Y shares were officially launched, and it also issued a CICC A500 index enhanced fund.

Some brokerage asset management firms also achieved a leap in profitability in 2025 from the “million-yuan level” to the “ten-million-yuan level.” For example, the net profit of Xingzheng Securities Asset Management surged from less than 9 million yuan in 2024 to 69 million yuan in 2025, with a year-over-year growth rate as high as 667.25%; its revenue growth rate also reached 66.35%.

It is not an isolated case. Hongta Hongtu Fund’s net profit increased from 0.02 billion yuan to 2M yuan in the same period, an increase of as much as 1,131.45%. Hongta Securities mentioned in its 2025 annual report that during the reporting period, Hongta Hongtu Fund actively seized market opportunities, deepened its business layout, and promoted a steady increase in the scale of public fund management. By the end of the reporting period, Hongta Hongtu Fund managed 20 public funds with an asset under management scale of 10.45B yuan.

However, more smaller and mid-sized fund companies faced operational tests. Data show that Ping An Ansheng Fund, Guohai Franklin Fund, and Shenwan Lihsin Fund, among others, saw declines in both revenue and net profit in 2025 to varying degrees year over year.

Nan Hua Fund and Pioneer Fund lost money in 2025—17.30 million yuan and 27.04 million yuan, respectively—currently the only two public-offering institutions that have disclosed data and failed to achieve profitability. Among them, Pioneer Fund’s revenue last year was only 15.28 million yuan, yet it carried losses of more than 27 million yuan, leaving its performance situation precarious.

According to 21st Century Business Herald…