China Fund News

On October 8, China Universal Asset Management and its wholly owned sales subsidiary jointly issued an announcement stating that China Universal is advancing the migration of its direct retail business, including Cash Treasure, and will carry out batch transfer custody after a transition period.

It is understood that the migration involves not only publicly offered mutual funds, but also fund advisory services, private asset management plans of securities and futures operating institutions, and other products and services. After completing the transfer custody, investors will need to open a new fund trading account with China Universal Fund Sales.

Previously, several leading public fund companies such as E Fund and Zhong Ou have successively shifted their direct sales operations to subsidiaries. Industry insiders said this move helps expand business lines and achieve diversified development, and more importantly, by complementing each other's strengths and pursuing coordinated development, it builds a bridge between funds and investors, providing clients with high-level wealth management services.

China Universal Advances Migration of Retail Direct Sales Business

Batch transfer custody will be implemented after the transition period.

On October 8, China Universal Fund and China Universal Fund Sales (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. issued a Joint Announcement on the Arrangement for the Migration of Retail Direct Sales Business. According to the announcement, in order to achieve integration and upgrading of wealth management business and better serve the vast number of investors, China Universal Fund plans to gradually migrate its retail direct sales business to China Universal Fund Sales. The migration arrangements are as follows:

Investors on China Universal Fund's direct sales platforms such as the Cash Treasure App and PC online trading system may choose to transfer custody of the products they hold under China Universal Fund, including but not limited to publicly offered securities investment funds, publicly offered securities investment fund advisory services, private asset management plans of securities and futures operating institutions, and other products and services, to China Universal Fund Sales and open a new fund trading account there. After the transfer, the subscription and redemption fee rates, trading efficiency, and services obtained by investors for their original holdings of China Universal Fund products will maintain business continuity. Subsequently, they can continue to purchase China Universal Fund products through China Universal Fund Sales, and can also conveniently purchase fund products of other fund managers. For those who temporarily do not transfer custody, the services they enjoy on the original direct sales platform will not be affected. If investors handle subscription, purchase, conversion-in, and regular fixed-amount investment of China Universal Fund products through China Universal Fund's direct sales platform or China Universal Fund Sales, the same limit standards shall apply, including but not limited to single-day single-account subscription limits, minimum single subscription amounts, and minimum additional subscription amounts.

The announcement also shows that a transition period is set for this business migration. During the transition period, China Universal Fund and China Universal Fund Sales will continue to issue advisory announcements. Upon expiration of the transition period, for China Universal Fund retail direct sales clients who have not yet independently completed the transfer custody, the company will uniformly implement batch transfer custody to China Universal Fund Sales, and a separate announcement will be made at that time. The counter direct sales business conducted for institutional investors through China Universal Fund's direct sales center, as well as individual pension shares and USD-denominated fund shares held by retail direct sales business investors, will temporarily not be migrated to China Universal Fund Sales in this round.

In early July this year, China Universal Fund's sales subsidiary, China Universal Wealth, officially commenced operations, and China Universal Cash Treasure 9.0 was simultaneously launched with a refreshed version. It is understood that the upgrade of China Universal Cash Treasure breaks through the original product boundaries, selects funds from the entire market, and covers all categories including money market, bond, equity, QDII, and FOF, meeting users' diverse goals ranging from cash management and steady appreciation to long-term growth and global allocation.

In recent years, China Universal Fund's scale has steadily climbed. Wind data shows that as of September 30, China Universal Fund's assets under management reached 1,275.777 billion yuan, with non-money-market scale reaching 815.196 billion yuan, ranking sixth in the industry.

Multiple Leading Public Fund Companies Shift Direct Sales Business to Subsidiaries

In recent years, multiple leading public fund companies have successively shifted their direct sales business to subsidiaries. In December last year, E Fund Wealth Management Fund Sales (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd. officially commenced operations, and E Fund simultaneously announced plans to gradually migrate its retail direct sales and fund advisory business to the subsidiary. The migration involves personal direct sales channels such as the e-Wallet App and PC online trading system. After transfer custody, investors can not only continue to purchase E Fund products but also purchase fund products of other fund managers and participate in fund advisory services. In January this year, E Fund announced that starting from January 23, 2026, the fund advisory service providers on 21 partner platforms including Tian Tian Fund, China Merchants Bank, and Ant Fund will be changed from E Fund to E Fund Wealth, with the original service content, business rules, and fee rates remaining unchanged.

In July 2022, Zhong Ou Fund issued an announcement stating that it planned to gradually migrate fund sales businesses such as account opening, subscription, purchase, redemption, conversion, and regular investment on its online direct sales platform to Zhong Ou Wealth within two months starting from July 8 of that year. After the migration, the original online direct sales clients will be provided with fund sales services by Zhong Ou Wealth.

A senior public fund professional in Shanghai said that as leading public fund companies shift their direct sales business to subsidiaries, the subsidiaries can rely on the client base and investment research resources accumulated by the parent company, and at the same time enhance the retention rate and value contribution of individual clients through a richer product line and advisory services. For the parent company, handing retail clients to a more professional sales subsidiary for operation also helps it concentrate on doing a good job in its main investment management business. "The sales subsidiary is an important vehicle for fund companies to directly reach investors. Relying on the parent company's investment research to carry out buy-side advisory business, it can open up the service chain from the asset side to the client side on the basis of accumulating its own clients and explore a differentiated wealth management path. From the trend perspective, under changes in business formats such as fund advisory, wealth management, and asset allocation, sales subsidiaries are expected to grow in the distribution field," he said.