As the first quarter of 2026 draws to a close, the public offering FOF (Fund of Funds) market is refreshing market perceptions with explosive growth.
Wind data shows that, as of now, over 44 new FOF products have been established this year, with a total fundraising scale reaching 65.125 billion yuan. With new funds continuously flowing in, the total scale of FOF funds officially surpassed the 300 billion yuan mark in mid-March, reaching a new historical level. However, signs of divergence are emerging amidst the boom. Affected by recent fluctuations and adjustments in the A-share market, the returns of equity-focused FOFs declined significantly last week, highlighting risk warnings.
Industry insiders believe that in this "star-making" campaign led by major commercial banks, FOFs are evolving from simple distribution products to strategic "ballasts" for wealth management. However, the test of sustainability has only just begun.
Bank "Star-Making": A Business Leap from Distribution to Co-creation "Currently, bank channels are no longer satisfied with simple distribution; instead, they are collaborating with leading fund companies to create exclusive FOF brand plans, focusing resources on promotion and sales," said a public offering FOF fund manager. This assessment accurately summarizes the core characteristic of the 2026 FOF issuance market: banks are accelerating their transformation from "sales channels" to "central hubs for asset allocation."
Data confirms the absolute dominance of bank channels. To date, China Merchants Bank leads the industry with an FOF custody scale of 26.165 billion yuan, followed by China Construction Bank and Bank of China, collectively dominating the FOF issuance market. Among the 12 blockbuster FOFs with fundraising scales exceeding 2 billion yuan, China Merchants Bank custodies 6, China Construction Bank custodies 3, Bank of China custodies 2, and China CITIC Bank custodies 1. Bank-affiliated custodians have captured the mainstream issuance share, becoming veritable "incubators" for blockbuster FOFs.
This deeply integrated, customized model is reshaping the industry landscape. From China Merchants Bank's "TREE Changying Plan" to China Construction Bank's "Longying Plan," and Bank of China's "Huitou Plan," leading banks are building systematic, branded FOF product matrices through deep cooperation with fund companies. Taking recently established blockbuster products as examples, the China Merchants Zhiying Preferred 6-Month Holding FOF, established on March 13, raised 3.413 billion yuan, custodied by Bank of China, and is a new product under the bank's "Huitou Plan." The E Fund Ruyi Yingze 6-Month Holding FOF raised 3.383 billion yuan in a single day, custodied by China Merchants Bank, and is included in the "TREE Changying Plan."
"This is not simple product distribution; it's a deep co-creation where banks propose clear risk-return characteristic requirements based on client profiles, and fund companies customize strategies accordingly," revealed a head of a bank's wealth management department.
He also stated that under this model, product design precisely aligns with the needs of bank channel clients: In terms of holding periods, among FOF products issued this year, except for one with a 1-year term, the rest have 3-month or 6-month holding periods, fitting the habit of domestic investors preferring short-term, stable allocations. Strategically, most FOFs focus on "fixed-income plus" and multi-asset allocation, with equity positions controlled between 5% and 30%, building a bond foundation while allocating to dividend low-volatility stocks, gold ETFs, and even overseas assets, balancing returns and liquidity, perfectly matching the reallocation needs of funds maturing from bank wealth management products and time deposits.
The strategic shift of bank channels has profound contextual reasons. The aforementioned bank executive stated that after experiencing the impact of net value drawdowns in previous equity funds and thematic products, banks have begun to re-examine their product layouts, shifting their strategic focus from simply "selling single products" to "selling asset allocation solutions." Driven by the dual forces of a persistent low-interest-rate environment and the migration of household wealth, the characteristics of FOFs—professional portfolio搭配 to diversify single-asset risk and smooth volatility—precisely meet the core demand of bank clients for "deposit substitutes," making FOFs a key lever for banks to optimize their income structure and strengthen their intermediary business.
Cooling Issuance and Performance Divergence: Reflection After the Boom Although the overall issuance scale of FOFs continues to expand, signs of market cooling have appeared since mid-March.
"Since mid-March, the public fund issuance market has cooled somewhat, mainly because both supply and demand sides are becoming more rational," analyzed the aforementioned public FOF fund manager. "On one hand, as the A-share market adjusted in mid-March, the赚钱 effect of equity assets weakened, investor risk appetite declined, and willingness to actively subscribe to new funds decreased. On the other hand, fund managers have also proactively slowed the issuance pace to wait for more favorable market windows."
This rational pullback's risk warning is already evident in FOF performance. As of March 21, significant adjustments occurred in the A-share market, with widespread price回调 in equity assets. Affected by this, the investment success rate of equity-focused FOFs decreased substantially. This performance stands in stark contrast to the heated issuance since the beginning of the year, reminding investors to be wary of the drag effect of equity-side volatility on FOF net values.
Internally, the divergence within the FOF market remains pronounced. According to Wind data, among the 84 institutions operating FOF businesses, 57 have management scales below 2 billion yuan. This means that although the industry's total scale has exceeded 300 billion yuan, the "top-heavy effect" is not yet solidified, and many small and medium-sized institutions still face challenges in breaking through.
"The current heat in the FOF issuance market essentially reflects the long-term trend of household wealth shifting from real estate to capital markets and from deposits to equity products," said a head of an independent fund evaluation agency. However, he also cautioned that although the average fundraising scale for FOFs in 2026 has risen to 1.48 billion yuan, the hot sales of some products are partly due to the concentrated release of channel schedules, and the actual investment experience still needs time to test.
Multiple industry insiders stated that as单一 markets continue to adjust, asset allocation is becoming a new tool for serving clients, and the value of FOFs as multi-asset portfolio tools will become more prominent. However, two variables need attention: first, the impact of the pace of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy shift on global liquidity, and second, the support for risk appetite from the strength of the domestic economic recovery. Fund managers should avoid short-sighted behavior of "emphasizing initial issuance but neglecting sustainability," establish assessment mechanisms matching the holding period, and for blockbuster products, proactively control fundraising scales to stay within strategy capacity boundaries. Only then can the "big year" for issuance truly translate into a "big year" of returns for investors.