On September 3, according to the China Banking Association's official website, the China Banking Association recently released the "China Banking Wealth Management Business Development Report and Wealth Management Company Yearbook (2025)" (hereinafter referred to as "the Report") in Beijing. This marks the twelfth consecutive year the China Banking Association has published a development report on the wealth management industry. Based on actual industry development conditions, the Report systematically summarizes the achievements of China's banking wealth management business transformation and development in 2024, covering seven aspects: overall development situation, relevant regulatory policies, business governance, wealth management business transformation, fulfillment of social responsibilities, issues and improvements, and wealth management company yearbook, comprehensively showcasing the annual development of various wealth management companies. In 2024, pension finance policies were intensively introduced, becoming important guidance for industry development. Against this backdrop, the Report includes for the first time a special study on "Exploration and Practice of Implementing Pension Financial Services," conducting in-depth analysis of bank wealth management's breakthroughs and layout in the pension finance field from dimensions including aging era background, policy interpretation, development history, and industry practices, providing insights for the industry to cultivate the pension finance field and helping to improve the pension security system.

First, industry scale grew steadily, with a solid foundation for high-quality development continuously strengthened. In 2024, the bank wealth management market maintained steady development momentum, entering a new stage of standardized, professional, and market-oriented development. As of the end of 2024, the market's outstanding scale reached 29.95 trillion yuan, an increase of 11.75% from the beginning of the year. Among this, wealth management companies' outstanding product scale reached 26.31 trillion yuan, accounting for 87.85% of the total market. Throughout the year, 179 banking institutions and 31 wealth management companies cumulatively launched 30,800 new wealth management products, raising a total of 67.31 trillion yuan. The number of investors holding wealth management products reached 125 million, an increase of 9.88% from the beginning of the year, and the wealth management industry cumulatively created 709.9 billion yuan in returns for investors.

Second, the regulatory framework continued to improve, guiding standardized industry innovation. In 2024, regulatory policies focused on capital market participation, pension finance system construction, and standardization of interbank cooperation. Policies such as "Guiding Opinions on Promoting Medium and Long-term Capital Market Entry" encouraged bank wealth management funds to actively participate in capital markets, providing equal policy treatment; "Notice on Comprehensive Implementation of Individual Pension System" further included government bonds, specific pension savings, and index funds in the individual pension product range, promoting more pension wealth management products to be included in individual pension products and enriching pension finance supply. Additionally, regulatory authorities standardized insurance asset management deposit accounting and addressed violations such as irregular manual interest supplementation, further preventing financial risks and maintaining financial market order.

Third, wealth management companies' dominant position continued to consolidate, with business layout and channel construction continuously expanding. As of the end of 2024, 32 wealth management companies had been established nationwide. City commercial banks, rural financial institutions, and other banking institutions' proprietary wealth management outstanding scale accounted for 9.92% of the total wealth management market, down 2.22 percentage points from the beginning of the year, showing a gradual contraction in market share. In business development, wealth management companies actively built refined product layouts around the "five major articles" and diverse customer investment needs, with increasingly diversified product systems, making "fixed income+," "ESG," and "pension" themed products key innovation focuses. In channel construction, 29 wealth management companies expanded distribution channels outside their parent banks, 21 conducted direct sales business, with cumulative direct sales amounts reaching 505 billion yuan throughout the year.

Fourth, industry transformation achieved significant results, with fintech deeply empowering development. Net asset value transformation of products continued to deepen. As of the end of 2024, net asset value wealth management products' outstanding scale reached 29.50 trillion yuan, accounting for 98.50%, an increase of 1.57 percentage points from the beginning of the year. Product innovation focused on multi-asset allocation, continuously enriching strategies such as "fixed income + gold" and "fixed income + overseas assets." Fintech applications accelerated implementation, with technologies such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA), virtual digital humans, and AI large models increasingly widely applied in customer service, risk management, and investment decision-making, driving industry transformation toward intelligence.

Fifth, practicing social responsibility with prominent achievements in serving national strategies. The bank wealth management industry adhered to the political and people-oriented nature of financial work and the inclusive nature of financial development, continuously meeting the financial service needs of economic and social development and the people. In 2024, the number of wealth management investors maintained growth momentum. Bank wealth management focused on low volatility and steady returns as core objectives, vigorously practicing inclusive finance. Overall wealth management product returns were steady, with an average return rate of 2.65% for wealth management products. In serving the real economy, the wealth management industry continued to guide capital flows toward the real economy. As of the end of 2024, support for the real economy through investments in bonds and non-standardized debt assets reached approximately 21 trillion yuan. In supporting national strategies, bank wealth management effectively guided capital flows to relevant fields through themed products and special investments in areas such as rural revitalization, scientific and technological achievement transformation, and green low-carbon development, helping implement national strategies.

Sixth, directly facing development challenges with clear improvement directions. Currently, the bank wealth management industry faces issues including coexisting low interest rates and asset shortages, product homogenization and short-termization, insufficient brand influence, and limited technological support capabilities. In the next phase, the wealth management industry should make efforts across multiple aspects including customer, channel, product, investment research, and technology ends, adhering to customer-centered service concepts and deepening full lifecycle customer management; building diversified collaborative channel systems of "parent bank + third party + direct sales," enhancing channel coverage breadth and service depth; continuously optimizing product structure, promoting development of "fixed income+," ESG, pension, and digitally innovative products, creating differentiated and diversified product systems; consolidating fixed income investment capabilities, improving multi-asset allocation levels, and enhancing professional investment research capabilities and strategic flexibility; further accelerating technology empowerment, improving system construction, strengthening data governance, advancing artificial intelligence applications, and promoting high-quality industry development.

Additionally, the Report conducted special research around exploration and practice of implementing pension financial services, analyzing characteristics such as prominent aging, high dependency ratios, and declining birth rates in China's aging era, significant regional and urban-rural differences, and pressures faced by the social security system. It reviewed the policy framework and regulatory guidance related to pension finance and recalled the development history of bank wealth management participation in pension finance. Based on excellent cases and practical experience from multiple wealth management companies conducting pension finance business, it analyzed opportunities and challenges faced by wealth management companies in deeply developing pension financial services and provided outlook on future prospects and changing trends.