New Wealth Management Products Frequently Fail: Why Are Fixed-Income Products Losing Popularity?

Recently, multiple bank wealth management subsidiaries announced that new wealth management products failed to launch because the subscription amount did not reach the minimum issuance scale specified in the product prospectus. Among these, fixed-income wealth management products have become the “hard-hit area” for unsuccessful issuances.

Many industry insiders told Shanghai Securities Journal that the aforementioned phenomenon is the result of multiple factors, including supply side, demand side, channel side, and market environment. In a low-interest-rate environment, the yield space for fixed-income products has been compressed, significantly weakening their appeal to investors. In addition, the severe homogenization of wealth management products and the mismatch between product supply and investor demand have also contributed to the coldness in product issuance.

In response to the above phenomenon, interviewees believe that wealth management companies should proactively adapt to market changes and seek transformation in optimizing product layout, improving channel construction, and strengthening investor engagement.

Multiple Wealth Management Products Failed to Issue This Year

On March 25, Xinyin Wealth Management announced that the Xinyin Wealth Management Anying Xiang Fixed Income Stable Yield Closed-end No. 332 wealth management product failed to issue because the subscription amount did not reach the minimum scale specified in the product prospectus (5 million RMB). According to the prospectus, this wealth management product will not be established.

Shanghai Securities Journal’s inquiry into Wind data found that there are numerous cases of wealth management products failing to issue due to not reaching the lower limit of the fundraising scale. According to incomplete statistics, since the beginning of the year, there have been 36 cases of wealth management products failing to issue in the entire market, a significant increase compared to the same period last year. Most of these are fixed-income wealth management products, and they are predominantly closed-end products.

Data monitored by Puyi Standards shows that in February 2026, a total of 2,018 wealth management products were newly issued in the entire market, a decrease of 522 compared to the previous month, of which 397 were open-ended products with an average performance benchmark of 1.85%; 1,621 were closed-end products with an average performance benchmark of 2.35%.

In terms of the existing market, many wealth management products have issued announcements for early termination. For example, on March 24, Ping An Wealth Management announced that, based on the comprehensive evaluation of the actual operation of the products by the product manager, according to the provisions of the corresponding clauses in the wealth management product prospectus, it will terminate four fixed-income wealth management products early on March 31, 2026. In early March, Bank of China Wealth Management announced that, due to the small existing scale of three of its wealth management products, to protect the rights and interests of investors, it decided to terminate the shares of the aforementioned three products early on March 11, 2026, according to the relevant provisions of the product prospectus.

Attractiveness of Yield Levels Declining

According to interviewees, the frequent “failures” in issuing fixed-income wealth management products are the result of the combined effects of market environment, investor demand, product design, and industry competition.

The decline in market interest rates has compressed the investment yield space for fixed-income wealth management products. “Recently, many bank wealth management products have adjusted their performance benchmarks downward, and for investors, the current yield level is indeed limited in attractiveness,” a bank wealth management investment manager admitted to Shanghai Securities Journal.

The mismatch between investor demand and product supply further exacerbates the cold phenomenon of wealth management products. “The increase in cases of failed fundraising for wealth management products reflects the mismatch between investor risk preferences and product supply,” said Lou Feipeng, a researcher at China Postal Savings Bank, to Shanghai Securities Journal. The decline in deposit interest rates drives funds to seek higher returns, and investors become more sensitive to net value fluctuations, especially in the recent environment where various asset classes have declined, leading investors to adopt a wait-and-see attitude toward newly issued products. Closed-end fixed-income products have poor liquidity and long durations, which have a low compatibility with current investors’ pursuit of flexibility.

In addition, severe product homogenization and insufficient core competitiveness are also important reasons for the failure of some products to issue. Wang Pengbo, a senior analyst in the financial industry at Botong Consulting, told Shanghai Securities Journal that there is obvious homogenization among products in the current wealth management market, and coupled with investors placing more importance on liquidity, the acceptance of products with longer closed periods has decreased, while insufficient channel promotion and customer compatibility have collectively led to the cold reception of these products.

Shifting from Scale Expansion to Stock Game

The “Annual Report on the Banking Wealth Management Market (2025)” shows that by the end of 2025, the outstanding scale of the banking wealth management market reached 33.29 trillion RMB, an increase of 11.15% compared to the beginning of the year. The entire market has 46,300 products in existence, of which 97.09% are fixed-income products.

Although the wealth management market continues to expand, not all products will be “popular.” This phenomenon of uneven demand reflects structural changes in the wealth management market.

“The wealth management market is shifting from scale expansion to stock game, with investors becoming more rational and the product supply side bidding farewell to extensive issuance,” Wang Pengbo believes. From the perspective of supply and demand, fundraising failures may become a normal phenomenon in the industry, and inappropriate product design and issuance rhythm from institutions are more likely to lead to undersubscribed cases.

How should wealth management companies respond to this change? Interviewees believe that wealth management companies must proactively adapt to market changes and continuously strive to optimize product layout, improve channel construction, and strengthen investor engagement.

Wang Pengbo believes that wealth management companies should optimize product structures, increase open-ended and liquidity-friendly designs, while enhancing investment research capabilities to create differentiated yield characteristics and accurately issue products that meet customer needs. In addition, controlling the issuance rhythm, strengthening channel cooperation and investor engagement, and rebuilding investor trust with steady performance can promote stable market development.

Su Xiaorui, a senior researcher at Suxi Intelligence Research, suggests: wealth management companies can, on one hand, strengthen asset allocation, evolving from “fixed income-oriented” to “diversified balanced” development; on the other hand, they can also enhance channel expansion and establish a comprehensive life cycle service system for wealth management, leveraging professional investment research capabilities and reliable customer engagement to promote fund retention and enhance customer loyalty.