Shangyin Fund Obtains a New “Joint Venture” Identity; the Issue of Lagging Development in Equity Business Still Needs to Be Addressed

(Source: Economic Information Daily)

Another bank-affiliated mutual fund company has entered the “Chinese-foreign joint venture” stage. Recently, the application for the change of shareholders holding more than 5% in Shanghai Silver Fund Management Co., Ltd. was approved by regulators, and Santander Investment Holdings, S.A. (hereinafter referred to as “Santander Investment”) officially became a foreign shareholder holding 20% of Shanghai Silver Fund. Overall, Shanghai Silver Fund’s latest managed assets have exceeded 250 billion yuan, with a distinctive business structure: over 90% are money market and bond products, while equity investment development is relatively weak, with a small number of index investment products represented by ETFs. After the “Chinese-foreign joint venture,” what new internationalization and market-oriented changes will Shanghai Silver Fund experience? The market remains to be observed.

It is understood that Santander Investment, which participated in this shareholding, is a subsidiary of Banco Santander of Spain. Banco Santander was founded in 1857 and is headquartered in Spain. The group’s business is integrated into five global segments: retail commercial banking, digital consumer banking, corporate and investment banking, wealth management and insurance, and payment services. By the end of 2025, Banco Santander’s total assets will reach 1.4 trillion euros, with 180 million customers, 7,100 branches, and a total of 198k employees.

The promotion of this equity transfer by Shanghai Silver Fund has taken several years. As early as November 2022, Shanghai Bank exercised its preemptive right to purchase the 10% equity stake in Shanghai Silver Fund transferred by the original shareholder China Machinery Industry Group Co., Ltd. In March 2023, Shanghai Bank announced on the open market its intention to transfer 20% of Shanghai Silver Fund’s equity. After soliciting interested buyers and completing regulatory approval procedures, the transfer was finally approved in March 2026.

It is reported that Shanghai Silver Fund was established in 2013. According to Wind data, as of March 23, its public fund management scale reached 14k yuan, with non-money market and money market products accounting for 165.89 billion yuan and 198k yuan respectively. The fund manages 69 funds with 21 fund managers. In terms of size alone, the company has already entered the mid-to-upper tier of the industry, ranking 35th in the market with its latest managed assets.

As a typical bank-affiliated mutual fund, Shanghai Silver Fund’s business structure also bears the distinct mark of a bank-affiliated entity. From the product type perspective, money market and bond products contribute the largest proportions. Wind data shows that Shanghai Silver Fund manages 34 bond funds with a total scale of 252.33B yuan, accounting for about 64%; money market funds total 3, with a scale of 86.44B yuan, accounting for about 34%. Based on this calculation, these two categories of products together account for over 90%.

Meanwhile, its equity business development is relatively weak. Data shows that Shanghai Silver Fund manages a total of 30 stock and hybrid funds, with scales of 0.643 billion yuan and 86.44B yuan respectively. Notably, despite the rapid development of ETFs, Shanghai Silver Fund still has zero ETFs. Additionally, other residual equity index products (passive index funds, enhanced index funds, etc.) are also small in scale, totaling 643M yuan.

Shanghai Silver Fund stated that this equity change does not have a substantial impact on the company’s daily operations. At the same time, introducing foreign shareholders will inject an international perspective into the company and further enhance its brand influence. In the future, Shanghai Silver Fund will continue to adhere to a compliant and prudent operating philosophy, improve corporate governance, optimize product forward-looking layout, and continuously upgrade investor services.

However, the introduction of foreign capital often brings new expectations in areas such as internationalization, market-oriented development, and product diversification. For Shanghai Silver Fund, how to maintain its core advantage in fixed income while further strengthening the recognition of its equity business remains to be observed.