Since the beginning of this year, bank wealth management subsidiaries have continued to increase their equity investments, with multiple bank wealth management subsidiaries participating in offline placements for A-share IPOs or cornerstone investments for Hong Kong IPOs.

An industry insider interviewed by Securities Daily stated that the direction of policy guidance for long-term capital to continue entering the market is clear, and the trend of residents' wealth migrating to equity assets is strengthening synchronously, providing favorable soil for wealth management subsidiaries to expand equity allocation. At the same time, the fundamental repair of the equity market will continue to expand the development space of related products. In the future, IPO "innovation" is expected to shift from the exploration of a few pioneers to a more common standard strategy in the industry.

Multi channel participation in IPO to 'create new products'

Securities Daily reporters learned from Ningyin Wealth Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Ningyin Wealth Management") that as of the end of April 2026, Ningyin Wealth Management has directly participated in 64 new stock subscriptions on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, of which 60 were successfully shortlisted, with a shortlist rate of 94%.

According to public information from ICBC Wealth Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "ICBC Wealth Management"), as of the opening on April 28th, the company has participated in a total of 16 Hong Kong stock IPO investments within the year, with a winning rate of 100% and a weighted return rate of over 100%. Among them, as a cornerstone investor, deeply participated in 6 key projects. In addition, China Post Wealth Management Co., Ltd. and China Merchants Bank Wealth Management Co., Ltd. also actively participate in the IPO of the Hong Kong stock market.

Zeng Gang, director of Shanghai Finance and Development Laboratory, stated in an interview with Securities Daily that the driving force behind the enthusiasm of bank wealth management subsidiaries to participate in IPOs and "innovate" comes from the pressure on the income side. By 2025, the average return rate of wealth management products in the entire market will be less than 2%, and the space for traditional fixed income assets will continue to narrow, forcing institutions to seek breakthroughs in higher return strategies. However, IPO "innovation" provides a relatively controllable risk and a relatively certain path for excess returns. In addition, the Hong Kong stock market is also highly attractive, with continuous optimization of the listing mechanism and significant profitability of new stocks. The actual earnings data of top institutions further strengthens industry confidence.

Important support has also been provided at the policy level. On March 28, 2025, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued the Decision on Amending the Measures for the Administration of Securities Issuance and Underwriting, which includes bank wealth management products in the scope of priority allocation for IPOs.

Zeng Gang believes that the participation of bank wealth management subsidiaries in IPOs has extended to multiple directions such as cornerstone investment in Hong Kong stocks and targeted issuance; Focusing highly on technology fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and biomedicine; The overall pattern still shows a differentiated trend of "pioneers leading and most institutions following", and the demonstration effect of top bank wealth management subsidiaries is accelerating the formation of consensus in the industry.

Lowering the threshold for investor participation

IPO "innovation" has become an important lever for equity investment layout of bank wealth management subsidiaries. From the product side, the IPO "innovation" strategy is also being embedded in the product structure of bank wealth management subsidiaries.

At present, Ningyin Wealth Management has officially surpassed 10 investment products under the Shanghai and Shenzhen Direct Investment Network, marking the increasing maturity of Ningyin Wealth Management's product matrix in the IPO "innovation" field. The relevant person in charge of Ningyin Wealth Management told reporters that by creating wealth management products that participate in the offline "newlisting" of Shanghai and Shenzhen direct investment, the threshold for investor participation can be lowered, allowing a wider range of wealth management customers to participate in new stock subscriptions as "A-class investors".

ICBC Wealth Management has established a "fixed income+Hong Kong stock IPO" strategy, which allocates debt assets such as deposits and high-grade credit bonds as bottom positions, and participates in rigorously screened Hong Kong stock IPO projects with a certain amount of positions, striving to obtain enhanced returns.

A staff member from the Wealth Management Department of China CITIC Bank told a reporter from Securities Daily that individual investors directly participating in the "IPO" of Hong Kong stocks face problems such as high account opening thresholds, low proportion of public offering shares, long capital occupation cycles, insufficient screening ability of targets, and weak risk diversification ability, making it difficult for them to efficiently and steadily seize the opportunities in the Hong Kong IPO market. The "Fixed Income+Hong Kong Stock IPO" strategy series of wealth management products constructs a low volatility safety cushion with fixed income assets, and obtains excess return elasticity through Hong Kong stock IPO investment, becoming an ideal solution to solve the personal Hong Kong stock "new market" dilemma.

However, Zeng Gang also stated that although the IPO "new venture" strategy has attractive returns, there are still thresholds, and wealth management companies need to be cautious in dealing with three aspects. One is the issue of rigid constraints on qualifications and inventory. There are clear requirements for the market value of equity positions in the offline "new market" of A-shares, and most bank wealth management subsidiaries have long focused on fixed income assets, resulting in a generally thin scale of equity positions. The cornerstone investment in Hong Kong stocks involves the locking of large amounts of funds and cross-border investment qualification review, which requires institutions to have high overseas business development capabilities. The second issue is the weakness in the pricing ability of investment research. The valuation of new stocks, especially for unprofitable technology companies, differs significantly from traditional bond analysis frameworks and requires the introduction of professional talents and the reconstruction of cross market research systems. The third issue is the compatibility between risk control and compliance systems. Cross market "innovation" involves the superposition of market volatility, liquidity management, and compliance risks, and the existing management framework centered on bond risk control may not be able to fully cover them.

In addition, how to promote the 'innovation' strategy to a wider range of ordinary investors in compliance at the product design level, rather than just staying in the private banking customer group, is also an important issue that the industry needs to systematically consider in the next step, "said Zeng Gang.

Source: Securities Daily