A fierce "crowding-out effect" is unfolding within China's asset management industry, even as the sector's total scale reaches a new peak of 184.53 trillion yuan. The "2025 Domestic Asset Management Industry Report," released by the Asset Management Studio of CITIC Financial Holding's Wealth Committee, reveals a fragmented reality: while the industry's overall scale expanded at a rate of 13.1% in 2025, it is undergoing intense internal divergence. Public funds and trust assets continued their double-digit growth, whereas the number of private fund managers plummeted by 469 within a year, and the scale of fund subsidiaries contracted sharply by 27.04%. This coexistence of expansion and contraction signals that China's asset management industry has entered a phase of structural realignment, driven by professional capability, compliance standards, and survival pressures, collectively fueling a new wave of industry consolidation.
The report, authored by China Securities Co., Ltd.'s Asset Management Department with contributions from institutions including CITIC Bank, Citi Bank Wealth Management, CITIC Securities, CITIC-Prudential Asset Management, CITIC Trust, and China Asset Management, was recently released. It shows that by the end of 2025, the total scale of China's asset management industry reached 184.53 trillion yuan. In terms of composition, public funds (37.71 trillion yuan), bank wealth management products (33.29 trillion yuan), insurance fund utilization balances (37.46 trillion yuan), and trust assets (32.43 trillion yuan) form the core framework of the industry.
Public funds and trusts are leading the growth, with their structures continuously optimizing. Public fund assets increased by 14.89% year-on-year to 37.71 trillion yuan. The growth is evident not only in total volume but also in structural improvements. The proportion of equity funds has risen, and product lines such as ETFs, QDIIs, FOFs, and public REITs have seen comprehensive expansion, demonstrating the industry's progress in meeting investors' diverse asset allocation needs. Simultaneously, sales fee reforms promoted by regulators aim to steer the industry towards a greater focus on long-term investment value.
The trust industry achieved a robust year-on-year scale growth of 20.11%, with assets increasing to 32.43 trillion yuan. This strong growth primarily stems from a fundamental shift in business structure. Guided by the new "three-category" regulations, asset management trusts and asset service trusts have replaced traditional financing and channel businesses to become the main engines of industry growth. The number of standardized trusts has increased significantly, fixed-income products dominate, and product durations have notably lengthened, indicating that the investment function and active management capabilities of the trust industry are steadily strengthening.
The private fund sector is undergoing profound structural adjustment, characterized by a reduction in quantity but an improvement in quality. Industry data reveals a significant divergence: while the number of managers and products decreased simultaneously, the assets under management experienced substantial counter-trend growth. This contradictory phenomenon points to the same conclusion—industry resources are rapidly concentrating towards a minority of leading institutions, while small and mid-sized firms are being steadily cleared out.
Data shows that by the end of 2025, there were 7,531 surviving private securities investment fund managers in China, a decrease of 469 from the end of 2024; the number of surviving products was 80,390, down by 7,443. However, the industry's assets under management grew counter-cyclically by 1.87 trillion yuan to reach 7.08 trillion yuan, a significant increase of 35.81%.
This set of contradictory data profoundly reveals the current state of the industry: a large number of small and mid-sized underperforming managers are exiting the market, while capital is flowing at an even faster pace towards leading and stably performing institutions. While the number of institutions and products is "contracting," the industry has achieved a notable "expansion" in assets under management, marking an acceleration in resource consolidation and the survival of the fittest.
In stark contrast to the aforementioned growth areas, institutions that previously relied heavily on specific channel businesses have seen significant scale contraction. The report points out that within the private asset management business of securities and futures operating institutions, the scale of fund subsidiaries decreased by 27.04% compared to the end of 2024, representing the largest decline among all types of managers. This figure directly reflects the challenges faced by former business models and the urgent pressure for transformation against the backdrop of the ongoing deepening of the new asset management regulations framework, which focuses on "de-channeling and de-layering."
The dramatic shift in the industry landscape is inseparable from the continuous guidance of regulatory policies and the proactive innovation of market institutions. In the fourth quarter of 2025, regulatory authorities introduced a series of policies covering areas such as the expansion of pension wealth management, standardization of asset management trusts, adjustment of fund sales fees, and pilot programs for commercial real estate REITs. These policies, on one hand, guide the industry to precisely serve national strategies like the silver economy and technological innovation; on the other hand, they push the industry to return to its origin of "managing money on behalf of clients" by strengthening risk management, standardizing sales practices, and reducing investor costs.
Meanwhile, market innovations are emerging one after another. Innovative products and businesses such as the Sci-Tech Innovation CDS Index, the first ship ETF, QFI pledged government bonds as futures margin, S-funds taking over restructuring funds, and the China-Singapore bond market interconnectivity counter bonds have been successively launched. These innovations have enriched market tools, enhanced cross-border services and risk management capabilities, and also propelled the industry towards greater specialization and refinement.
Market participants are also continuously evolving. The establishment of entities like China Merchants Bank Financial Asset Investment Co., Ltd., Citi Bank Financial Asset Investment Co., Ltd., and Industrial Bank Financial Asset Investment Co., Ltd., focuses on primary market equity investments serving the real economy; the approval for foreign institutions like AIA Group Asset Management and Helan Insurance Asset Management to operate in Shanghai demonstrates the continued deepening of China's financial sector opening; the successful issuance of the world's first non-bank financial institution offshore bond in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone explores new paths for cross-border financing. The industry ecosystem is evolving towards having more diverse participants and more open business practices.
The report also includes a dedicated chapter analyzing the AI empowerment practices of European and American asset management institutions. Taking BlackRock as an example, it has formed a mature model of "human-machine collaboration" by building intelligent investment research platforms, upgrading risk control systems, and improving intelligent investment advisory ecosystems. The report indicates that AI technology has evolved from an efficiency tool into a key factor enhancing core competitiveness in investment decision-making and risk control. Furthermore, regulatory practices in Europe and America regarding algorithm transparency and data security provide a reference for China's asset management industry to balance technological innovation with compliance risks.
The industry scale of 184 trillion yuan has become the starting point for a new round of structural differentiation. Report data shows that institutions adapting to regulatory changes and enhancing active management capabilities continue to gain market recognition, while those failing to adapt to rule changes or slow to transform face a loss of market share. This trend of differentiation signifies that the core of industry competition is shifting from scale expansion to a contest of quality and efficiency. In the future, the ability to establish a professional capability system that matches the needs of the real economy will directly determine an institution's position within the reshaped industry landscape.