Oriental Fund Chairman Steps Down! How Will the Billion-Dollar Public Fund Shore Up Its Equity Weakness?

Ask AI · How will Liu Hongpeng, acting Chairman, adjust the equity product layout?

Cui Wei, who served as Chairman of Dongfang Fund for nearly 15 years, recently stepped down. The position has been temporarily filled by the company’s General Manager Liu Hongpeng. During Cui Wei’s tenure, Dongfang Fund grew into a publicly offered fund company with a scale of over 100 billion yuan, with a greater focus on fixed income products. Will the new Chairman make up for the shortcomings in equity funds?

Another public fund company announces a change in leadership.

According to Dongfang Fund’s announcement on March 20, Chairman Cui Wei has stepped down due to work adjustments, and General Manager Liu Hongpeng will serve as acting Chairman. Cui Wei will continue to serve as a director of Dongfang Fund.

Wind data shows that by the end of 2025, Dongfang Fund’s public fund management scale will be 126.819 billion yuan. As a well-established public fund company with over 21 years of history, Dongfang Fund currently focuses on bond funds and other fixed income products. However, the scale of equity funds is relatively low, and the hybrid fund scale mainly depends on a few sector-specific products.

For small and medium-sized fund companies, future market competition will become more intense. How will Dongfang Fund address its shortcomings in equities?

Serving nearly 15 years before stepping down

On March 20, Dongfang Fund announced that, after approval by the board of directors, Cui Wei resigned as Chairman on March 18 due to work adjustments, and General Manager Liu Hongpeng will serve as acting Chairman.

It is understood that Cui Wei is a seasoned financial professional who previously worked at the People’s Bank of China and later at regulatory agencies such as the China Securities Regulatory Commission. He has also taught at a university, earning him the industry’s nickname “scholar-official.” According to information, Cui Wei has served as Chairman of Dongfang Fund since December 2011, with a tenure of nearly 15 years, making him one of the longer-serving public fund chairmen in the industry.

Based on the latest scale data, during Cui Wei’s tenure as Chairman, Dongfang Fund experienced significant growth, evolving from a less-than-100-billion-yuan fund to a billion-yuan-level public fund.

The announcement states that the current acting Chairman, General Manager Liu Hongpeng, has been with Dongfang Fund since October 2016, working alongside Cui Wei for nearly 10 years. He previously served as General Manager of Xinhua Securities Changchun Tongzi Street Branch, General Manager of Northeast Securities Hangzhou Branch, Deputy General Manager of the Marketing Management Department, and General Manager. He joined Dongfang Fund in May 2011 and has held roles including Assistant General Manager, Deputy General Manager, General Manager, and Director. He is also a director of Dongfang Huizhi Asset Management Co., Ltd.

Dongfang Fund told media that this leadership change is mainly driven by the company’s long-term development needs and is part of normal governance improvements and talent pipeline optimization. The company’s established development strategy remains stable and continuous. During Cui Wei’s tenure as Chairman, he was diligent and dedicated, making significant contributions to the company’s strategic development, governance improvement, and stable operation, laying a solid foundation for long-term healthy growth. The company expressed heartfelt thanks. After stepping down, Cui Wei will continue to serve as a director.

How will a billion-yuan public fund fill its gaps?

Public information shows that Dongfang Fund is a public fund company established over 21 years ago, based in Beijing. Its ownership structure includes: Northeast Securities holding 57.6%, Hebei Guokong Capital holding 24.3%, Bohai International Trust holding 8.1%, and three employee shareholding platforms holding a total of 10%.

As a brokerage-affiliated public fund, Dongfang Fund mainly relies on fixed income products for development. Wind data indicates that by the end of 2025, the management scale of Dongfang Fund’s public funds was 126.819 billion yuan, with bond funds at 88.272 billion yuan, hybrid funds at 18.94 billion yuan, money market funds at 17.198 billion yuan, and equity funds and FOFs (funds of funds) at 2.212 billion yuan and 198 million yuan, respectively.

Looking at the product lineup, this long-established “old” public fund still shows some “specialization” issues, with notable differences in the scale of various fund types. Currently, there are only four equity funds, two of which are index funds with very small scales—less than 50 million yuan. The company has not yet launched ETFs (exchange-traded funds), and both the number and scale of actively managed equity funds are relatively low. The Dongfang CSI Red Dividend Low Volatility 100 Index fund exceeds 1.3 billion yuan, accounting for 61.35% of the total equity fund scale.

In terms of hybrid products, Dongfang Fund also relies on a few key funds to support its scale. For example, the Dongfang New Energy Vehicle Theme and Dongfang Artificial Intelligence Theme funds are typical sector-specific funds, with a combined recent scale approaching 14 billion yuan, accounting for 73.21% of the total hybrid fund scale. However, sector-specific funds have long been criticized—when they hit the trend, net value and scale both increase; once the trend fades, performance and scale tend to decline accordingly.

The new Chairman has not yet taken office. How Dongfang Fund will develop in the future remains a focus for the industry.

Reporter Xia Yuechao

Copyeditor Chen Cai