The Fund Distribution Landscape Is Changing: Ant Fund Takes the Lead, Banks Lose Ground, and Brokers Hold Their Ground
Hello everyone, I'm your financial journalist. Today, we're talking about a major industry event that just happened but has far-reaching consequences: the leader in the distribution of public funds in China has changed.
For a long time, when people wanted to buy funds, their first choice was to visit a bank branch or use a bank app. However, according to the latest data from the China Asset Management Association for the first half of 2026, third-party internet platforms (led by Ant Fund) have officially surpassed banks as the primary channel for selling public funds.
This is more than just a change in rankings; it represents a profound shift in the question of "who understands investors better," "who offers more efficient services," and "who charges lower fees." To make this complex news easier to understand, I've broken it down into five key points and explained the logic behind it in plain language.
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1. The Transfer of Power: Why Ant Fund Leads by Such a Large Margin?
Let's start with the most crucial data. In the first half of 2026, the total scale of non-monetary funds (such as equity, hybrid, and bond funds) in the market reached 13.79 trillion yuan.
Within this vast market, third-party platforms (mainly including Ant Fund and TianTian Fund) accounted for 39.18% of the share, with a scale of 5.40 trillion yuan, while the once-dominant bank sector saw its share shrink to 38.67%, amounting to 5.33 trillion yuan. The difference is just a few hundred billion yuan, but the title of "leader" has changed, indicating a shift in industry influence.
Why Ant Fund?
Ant Fund alone accounted for 2.21 trillion yuan, not only firmly holding the top spot in the market but also becoming the first "super giant" in the industry to exceed the 2-trillion yuan mark. Its growth rate was astonishing, at 27.67%, far exceeding the 9.42% growth rate of the bank sector.
What drove this?
1. Combination of Traffic and Technology: In the early days, Ant Fund relied on the "traffic dividend," but now it relies on "technology empowerment." Ant Wealth uses AI to provide personalized financial advice based on users' risk preferences and investment portfolios, even acting like a personal assistant. This "companionship-style" service meets the needs of younger investors better than the simple sales approach of bank clerks.
2. Talent Attraction: It has been reported that Ant Fund recently hired nearly 200 new employees, many from traditional banks and securities firms, indicating that internet platforms are not only competing for customers but also for knowledgeable professionals, further enhancing their service capabilities.
3. High User Loyalty: Data shows that 60% of Ant Fund users have investments of less than 1,000 yuan, but each user holds an average of 3.2 different types of funds, and there are over 70 million users who make regular investments. This shows that Ant Fund has captured a large number of "long-tail users" (ordinary retail investors) by setting low entry barriers and encouraging frequent investments, thus building a significant scale advantage.
In summary: Ant Fund's success lies in its understanding of users and efficiency, using technology to gather scattered retail investor funds.
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2. The "Internal Divisions" Among Banks: Why Is China Merchants Bank Standing Out While Others Fall Behind?
While third-party platforms are making rapid progress, the bank sector is experiencing a significant decline:
An Astonishing Phenomenon:
Within the banking system, growth is extremely uneven. China Merchants Bank alone contributed 332.4 billion yuan in net growth, almost single-handedly supporting the bank sector. In contrast, the situation for other major banks is more complex:
- Steadily Growing Banks: China Construction Bank (+25.7 billion), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (+24.4 billion), CITIC Bank (+51.4 billion).
- Declining Banks: Bank of China (-17.2 billion), Ping An Bank (-7.4 billion), Industrial Bank (-35.9 billion).
Why Are Banks Losing Ground?
Many think that banks, with their numerous branches and customers, should be stable. However, the issues lie in product strategy and internal conflicts of interest:
1. Changing Customer Needs: Investors now either seek stability (by buying pure bond funds) or transparency and low costs (by buying index funds/ETFs).
- China Merchants Bank is smart; it has actively promoted fixed-income products and achieved a 147.4 billion yuan holding in index funds, meeting customer needs.
- Many other banks are ambiguous about these products.
2. Internal Assessment Deadlocks: This is the core issue:
- Selling pure bond funds reduces the bank's deposit and wealth management product volumes, affecting its profit margins.
- Selling low-fee index funds generates little income from transaction fees. By contrast, selling traditional active equity funds (where the bank gets a higher commission) is more profitable.
- As a result, banks, to protect their core interests (deposits and high-commission products), are reluctant to promote low-fee, stable products that meet customer needs, leading customers to switch to internet platforms.
3. Focusing on High-Net-Worth Customers: Some private banking departments have shifted to serving high-wealth clients, recommending higher-fee private funds, which increases customer value but sacrifices the mass market.
In summary: Banks lose because they are stuck in traditional approaches and conflicts of interest, failing to meet the public's demand for low-fee, stable products.
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3. Brokers' Strong Position: ETFs as Their Ace
Although the brokerage sector didn't become the leader, it performed very well and can be said to have "held its ground":
Data Highlights:
- The brokerage sector occupied 56 of the top 100 positions, the largest group.
- The non-monetary fund holding scale was 3.05 trillion yuan, with a 17.81% increase, outpacing bank growth and keeping pace with the market.
How Did Brokers Maintain Their Position?
The answer is ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds):
1. Advantages of Intraday Trading: ETFs are traded on stock exchanges, making them as convenient, real-time, and transparent as buying stocks. As the main venues for stock trading, brokers have a natural advantage.
2. Meeting the Demand for Passive Investing: With market volatility, many investors find it harder for fund managers to outperform the market, so they prefer ETFs. Brokers, with their efficient trading systems and liquidity, successfully attracted a large amount of capital shifting from active investing to passive investment.
3. Customer Conversion: Selling ETFs is more than just selling products; it also converts customers who previously only traded stocks into wealth management clients.
Leading Brokers: Top brokers like CITIC Securities (380.6 billion yuan), Guotai Haitong (254.8 billion yuan), and Huatai Securities (247.9 billion yuan) dominate, with the top five accounting for 42% of the entire brokerage sector's scale, and the top ten for 64%. This shows that the brokerage industry is undergoing a consolidation, with smaller firms struggling to gain a share.
In summary: Brokers have used ETFs as a strong asset to maintain their position. In a market where active funds are challenging, ETFs have become a vital source of revenue, and leading brokers have secured this advantage.
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4. The Big Shakeup in the Industry: Small and Medium-Sized Institutions Face a Survival Crisis
This change in the rankings is not just a battle among large institutions; it also indicates a harsh reality: small and medium-sized distribution firms are being rapidly phased out.
What's Happening?
- Disappearing Firms: Huayuan Securities and Bohai Securities have dropped from the top 100.
- License Cancellations: Some small third-party distributors and city commercial banks have had their licenses revoked or were terminated by fund companies, preventing them from selling their products.
Why Can't Small Institutions Survive?
1. New Fee Regulations: The upcoming public fund fee regulations in 2027 will significantly reduce sales fees, squeezing the profit margins of small institutions that relied on high commissions.
2. Lack of Core Competitiveness:
- No Traffic: They can't compete with platforms like Ant Fund and TianTian Fund.
- No Trading Advantages: They can't match the trading experience of brokers with ETFs.
- Lack of Brand Trust: They can't compete with the branches and private banking services of large banks.
- Limited Product Range: Major platforms offer a wide range of funds, while small firms can only sell a few companies' products, limiting customer choices and reducing their appeal.
In summary: The fund distribution industry is entering a "buyer-centric" era, where service, technology, and scale are key. Small and medium-sized institutions without these advantages will be eliminated by the market.
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5. Future Prospects: How Should Investors Choose?
This shift in the industry means the following for ordinary investors:
1. More Choices and Lower Fees: Competition among third-party platforms (like Ant Fund and brokers like CITIC and Huatai) will lower fund sales fees, making funds more affordable.
2. Personalized Services: Internet platforms' AI-based investment advice and automated investment plans will simplify financial management.
3. Brokers Remain Important but Not the Only Option: Banks are still valuable for those seeking extreme stability or private services, but for the general public, you'll need to compare fees and products across platforms.
4. Be Cautious of Survivor Bias: Don't blindly trust one platform. While Ant Fund is large, it mainly serves retail investors; brokers target traders, and banks serve stable investors. There's no one-size-fits-all platform; choose the one that best suits your investment habits.
In conclusion:
The first half of 2026 marked a historic shift in the fund distribution industry from bank dominance to diversified competition. Ant Fund took the lead with technology and traffic, brokers held their ground with ETFs, the bank sector showed internal divisions, and small and medium-sized institutions are facing elimination.
For investors, this means:
- Benefits: Lower fees, more choices, and more personalized services.
- Challenges: You need to actively choose your distribution channel rather than relying on bank recommendations.
- Trend: "Buyer-centric" advice (provided from the investor's perspective) will become the norm, replacing "seller-centric" sales.
This transformation is essentially about the financial services industry returning to a customer-centric approach. Those who can help investors buy more intelligently, at lower costs, and with less hassle will succeed in the future.