Fashion: Dapeng

Source: Shoucai - Shoutiao Finance and Economics Research Institute

Even if the road is far away, you will be at your disposal; if things are difficult, you can accomplish it.

In 2025, the asset management industry is undergoing a profound change. The industry has entered a critical period of high-quality transformation, and a system upgrade around investment, research and production methods has quietly advanced.

On September 6, at the China-Europe Manufacturing and Investment Research System Upgrade Conference, Dou Yuming, Chairman of China-Europe Fund, publicly and systematically elaborated on the "industrialization" investment research system upgrade strategy for the first time. The core is to achieve the "long-term performance" path, shift from relying on individual capabilities to relying on a systematic system, to fundamentally reshape the "production logic" of the fund; to promote the development of high-quality products from individual-driven "accidental results" to a "intentional result" of systematic output.

Dou Yuming emphasized that this "industrialization" upgrade does not weaken individuals, but its deep connotation lies in: in a mature industrial investment and research system, the professionalism and uniqueness of each member will be more prominent, becoming an indispensable key node on the "smart production line". The fundamental strategic goal is to cultivate the "third generation of fund managers" who can adapt to the new paradigm of future investment.

Indeed, a new cycle requires a new attitude. With the overall reduction of fees, the traditional profit model that used to rely on channel commissions and initial incentives is facing reconstruction, and competition in the future will focus more on ecological construction. Whoever can get ahead of the position and practice internal skills will be able to stand out.

Buff for fund managers

A new era of platformization

The success of platformization is not to eliminate individuality but to empower individuals.

The latest data from the China Securities Investment Association shows that as of the end of August, the scale of public assets in my country exceeded the "mark" of 36 trillion yuan for the first time, an increase of more than 1 trillion yuan from the end of July, setting a new historical record for the 11th time since 2024. Wind statistics show that the scale of newly issued funds in September has broken the single-month record since the beginning of this year.

Looking ahead to the future market, institutional people generally believe that A-shares are still on an upward trend and still have room for upward. However, opportunities are unlimited and market complexity is also increasing at the same frequency. The big market is stronger, the competition is stronger, and professional. If you want to truly enjoy this wave of market dividends, the previous "star fund managers' individual combat" model has become increasingly powerless, and industry transformation is imminent.

Faced with the new form, Dou Yuming believes that the manpower required to cover the entire market has exceeded the carrying limit of any single team. In addition, customer needs are becoming increasingly diversified, China-Europe Fund has made up its mind to move towards "industrialization". Its essence is a systematic upgrade with the platform-based investment and research system as the core.

In the view of the First Finance, China-Europe Fund sends three important signals to the market:

First, build a professional, industrial and digital collaboration platform architecture. China Europe Fund has integrated more than a dozen original business units into four main production lines, and has built a platform-based investment and research system with "specialization, industrialization, and digitalization" as its pillar.

Specialization is the cornerstone of platform development. Investment and research personnel need to "reduce the circle" and work hard to form continuous insights in subdivided fields. Researchers do not necessarily have to become fund managers, but they can devote themselves to the industry for life; the growth of excellent fund managers also requires the long-term accumulation of "10 years of research 10 years of investment".

Industrialization is the tool for platform collaboration. China and Europe achieve efficient collaboration through methodological unification (such as the implementation of five-element model by equity teams), process standardization (such as the establishment of four workshops of "design, production, assembly, and inspection" for multi-asset teams), and the construction of a sharing culture, so as to achieve efficient collaboration, which significantly improves the adoption rate of researchers' suggestions.

Digitalization is the platform performance engine. China and Europe integrate AI and large models into investment and research processes to achieve human-machine collaboration. Invest in AI and computing power, participate in research report reading, transaction optimization, real-time risk control, etc., to improve the coverage and efficiency of investment and research. For example, China Europe Convertible Bond A, the real investment company used a large model to process convertible bond announcements and optimized the pricing model. The fund ranked among the same performance in the past year.

Secondly, platformization does not mean deindividualization, but a deep empowerment of individuals. "Industrialization" does not turn people into "screws", but empowers individuals through the platform system, making professional talents more professional and business collaboration more effective.

As stated at the press conference, "the platform is to stack buffs for fund managers." Taking the technology group as an example, 13 fund managers and 12 researchers have successfully captured many major opportunities such as optical modules with the support of the platform.

Public information shows that as early as the first quarter of 2023, the China-Europe Technology Team began to pay attention to the trading opportunities of optical modules. Tiantian Fund Network shows that as of September 29, the China-Europe Digital Economy Mixed-initiated A initiated by Feng Ludan in the past year has a yield of 188.47%. Its holding information shows that the two optical module leaders, Zhongji Xuchuang and Xinyisheng, hold a shareholding ratio of 10% "top configuration".

Tiantian Fund Network shows that as of September 29, the China-Europe Digital Economy Mixed Fund ranks third among 4,384 funds in the past year, and the value of "stacking buffs for fund managers" can be seen.

Furthermore, the platform system supports long-term and stable returns. As of the end of June 2025, the active equity investment capabilities rank first among large companies, showing the steady returns brought by the three-year transformation.

Tiantian Fund Network shows that as of September 29, in addition to the China-Europe Digital Economy Mixed, the yields of China-Europe Intelligent Manufacturing Mixed A and China-Europe Science and Technology Innovation Theme Mixed (LOF) managed by Shao Jie were 105.23% and 101.29% respectively in the past year. The Sino-European electronic information industry Shanghai-Hong Kong-Shenzhen Stock A managed by Liu Jinhui has a yield of 65.25% in the past year.

From leading the industry's business unit system to taking the lead in moving towards a new investment and research paradigm of platformization and industrialization, it can be said that China-Europe Fund has always been at the forefront of innovation and plays the role of pioneering system innovation.

Industry analyst Wang Yanbo said that in the context of reducing fees and concessions and returning to the original industry, the competition among leading institutions has been upgraded from competing with celebrity fund managers to a comprehensive competition between platform ecology, operational efficiency and technological innovation. China-Europe Fund took the lead in transforming into a platform-based, industrialized and digital investment and research system, providing a key model for the high-quality development of the industry. With the help of systematic construction of the team platform, break the "handshop" model of celebrities relying on "handshops". To achieve replicable, controllable and sustainable investment capabilities, and strive to create long-term and stable returns for investors, this is the embodiment of returning to the original source.

Professional and deep cultivation

The medical front is strongly "recovering blood"

Those who follow the trend are often favored by the God of Lucky.

With the conclusion of the second quarter report disclosure, the upward trend of the industry has been further clarified. Wind data shows that the total quarterly profit of the public offering industry reached 396.6 billion yuan, a surge of nearly 12 times year-on-year. Among them, stock funds can be regarded as popular, contributing 120.45 billion yuan, an increase of 142.58%, a year-on-year increase of 207.94. In the single product performance list, pharmaceutical theme funds account for half of the top ten profits, the biggest highlight of the cost quarter.

Focusing on China-Europe Fund, equity funds have recovered, and pharmaceutical-themed products have led the rebound. The most popular market attention is Ge Lan, the "No. 1" pharmaceutical "sincere" in medicine. The China-Europe Medical Innovation Stock Fund, which has adjusted its management in the past four years, has rebounded sharply. Data from Tiantian Fund Network shows that as of September 29, 2025, the yield of China Europe Medical Innovation Stock reached 58.74% in the past year, showing strong excess return capabilities, and China Europe Mingrui New Qidian Mixed also reached 45.68%.

In-depth analysis of holding strategies and focus more on the innovative drug sector in Hong Kong stocks. Among the top ten heavily held stocks, Hong Kong-listed innovative pharmaceutical companies such as WuXi United, Keluanbotai Biologics, WuXi Biologics, and Kangfang Biotechnology account for a relatively high proportion, and some individual stocks have a position close to the 10% upper limit stipulated by public offerings. The centralized layout strategy allows it to enjoy more opportunities for growth.

From the perspective of industry fundamentals, China's huge population base and structural changes have provided solid demand support for innovative drugs. As a world's largest population country, it is estimated that by 2035, China's population over 60 years old will exceed 400 million. With the increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases in all age groups, the demand for patients to use drugs continues to expand, forming a stable basic foundation for the development of the industry. The domestic innovative drug market is not only considerable in scale, but also has the underlying logic of long-term high prosperity.

What's more, driven by technology, policies and capital, China's innovative drugs have long been different from being the same, and many companies have gradually moved from following runners to leading positions. The European Commission's "2024 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard" shows that the growth rate of R&D investment in the medical and health industry has reached 7%, and the number of companies has reached 437, ranking first in the world. Among them, the number of Chinese medical and health enterprises increased from 13 in 2022 to 63, ranking second in the world.

According to data from the World Intellectual Property Organization, China's PCT patent applications accounted for 20.6% of the world's global drug technology field in 2024, and the medical technology field accounted for 13.3%, an increase of 14 and 7.9 percentage points respectively from 2015, making it the world's second largest drug and medical technology output country.

Faced with the overtaking of China's innovative drugs, Ge Lan continued to express her optimistic attitude towards the pharmaceutical sector in the latest report: the competitiveness of domestic companies in ADC, double antibody, peptide and other fields has been recognized globally and has become an important partner of multinational pharmaceutical companies. In the future, there will still be multiple varieties with overseas authorization potential. In addition, with the continuous optimization of policies in R&D and payment mechanisms, the sector is expected to maintain a long-term prosperity.

In the view of industry analyst Wang Tingyan, there is a "Double Ten Law" for traditional new drugs, which takes an average of 10 years and costs more than US$1 billion. AI technology can significantly compress the R&D cycle and reduce costs, which will greatly shorten the return period and reduce uncertainty in related investments. With the empowerment of the platform-based investment and research system, China-Europe Fund has significantly rebounded and has led the market in terms of returns. This achievement is a joint resonance between the fund's strategic vision and the long-term prosperity of the pharmaceutical industry.

From sticking to the first echelon

What did China and Europe do the right thing

Compared with the collective rebound of equity products, China-Europe Fund's sticking to the shortcomings is more valuable.

In order to systematically improve the fixed income business capabilities, China Europe Fund has successfully introduced core members of the original Boshi Fund fixed income team with Shao Kai as the core since 2023, achieving a leapfrog supplement to the key talent system. A series of recruitment covers multiple levels such as investment, research, and decision-making. In addition to the former deputy general manager of Boshi Fund and the soul of fixed income business, there are also many senior professionals such as Wang Shen, director of the research group, Huang Haifeng, deputy director of investment in Fixed Income Department 1, and Deng Xinyu, backbone of the mixed asset department.

Behind this is the empowerment of the employment concept mechanism. Dou Yuming, chairman of China Europe Fund, once pointed out that the core competitiveness of the asset management industry lies in talent. Unlike the manufacturing industry that relies on equipment updates, the ability improvement of fund companies lies in people's professional ability and synergistic efficiency.

Based on this concept, China-Europe Fund successfully recruited many fixed income leaders through the dual attractiveness of "salary equity incentive", laying the foundation for quickly filling in business shortcomings.

How effective are they? In 2024, the scale of China-Europe Fund bond products increased by nearly 50 billion yuan in one year to 115.5 billion yuan; by the first quarter of 2025, "fixed income " products became the main driving force for scale growth. Many bond funds have firmly ranked in the top 5%-15% of similar performance in the past two years, pushing the company's overall fixed income business to enter the first echelon of medium-sized companies.

Tiantian Fund Network shows that as of June 30, 2025, the scale of China-Europe Fund bond funds was 146.374 billion yuan, setting a new record high, an increase of more than 30 billion yuan from the beginning of 2025. Through in-depth binding of core talents, equity incentives gather long-term synergy, stimulate vitality, and scale growth is reasonable.

According to the "Daily Economic News", as early as 2014, China Europe Fund became the first public offering institution in the industry to share equity with core employees. It is also one of the few public fund managers in the industry that implement extensive employee shareholding, which naturally enhances its attractiveness to top talents.

Taking the above-mentioned fixed income team as an example, many key figures hold shares in the company through Shanghai Muyi Investment Management Partnership (Limited Partnership), achieving in-depth coordination with the company's interests. For example, Shao Kai serves as the chairman of the fixed income investment decision-making committee and holds corresponding equity in the partnership platform. Another example is Chen Kaiyang: he serves as a member of the fixed income investment decision-making committee and investment director, and holds a share of the partnership platform.

Industry analyst Sun Yewen believes that a series of achievements in China-Europe fixed income business clearly demonstrates how a modern asset management company can quickly fill in business shortcomings and build long-term competitive advantages through the dual-wheel drive of "strategic talent attraction" and "mechanized binding". This is not only a victory for a single business line, but also a compound interest feedback that focuses on platform construction, adheres to long-term governance concepts, and respects the professionalism of talents, providing a path for the sustainable development of the industry.

Three challenges and a ten-year agreement

System change is on the way

Of course, this does not mean that it is impeccable. Promoting platform transformation is a marathon-like system project. China-Europe Fund also faces real challenges from talent structure, product layout and equity business. How to eliminate uncertainty in this relationship is related to the company's future prospects.

1. The loss of core equity talents, and the dependence on the binding path of torture:

In the fixed income field, China-Europe Fund's equity side needs to be wary of the pressure of the loss of core investment and research personnel. As the company announced in January 2025 that senior fund manager Cao Mingchang left the four products he managed.

Public information shows that Cao Mingchang has joined China Europe in 2015 and has 18 years of investment research experience. He has won many honors such as 9 Golden Bull Awards and 7 Star Fund Awards. Its departure marks the loosening of the "star fund manager" model that China-Europe Fund once relied on. In order to cope with this change, the company is tilting its resources towards fixed income products. However, whether it can shift to achieving performance balance still needs market testing.

2. The layout of ETFs is significantly lagging behind, missing opportunities for market expansion:

Against the backdrop of the accelerated wave of passive investment, the layout of China-Europe Fund ETFs shows signs of falling behind and stalling.

Data from Tiantian Fund Network shows that as of September 9, 2025, the total scale of China-Europe Fund Index Fund was only 25.774 billion yuan. Among them, China-Europe Healthcare Mixed A managed by Gelan is classified as an index fund. If the active management product with a scale of 15.638 billion yuan is excluded, the real China-Europe index product scale is only about 10 billion yuan.

This is in sharp contrast to the rapid progress of the industry and leading companies. Since 2025, the scale of ETFs in the entire market has accelerated its expansion and blossomed at multiple points, and has exceeded the 5 trillion yuan mark in August. It is estimated that the scale reached 5.5 trillion yuan as of September 25, an increase of 1.76 trillion yuan from the end of last year. A total of 115 ETFs have exceeded 10 billion yuan. Among them, 17 ETFs have a scale of over 50 billion yuan, and ETFs of hundreds of billions have frequently emerged, such as Huatai-Prudential-Shanghai-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-Shenzhen-S

Faced with such a great market, whether China-Europe Fund misses important scale growth opportunities is worthy of deep reflection on enterprises.

3. The scale of equity has shrunk, and historical losses have not been fully compensated:

Affected by the past heavy investment in medical care, China-Europe Fund's equity products have not yet fully exited the adjustment period. Wind data shows that the company's performance loss in 2022 was 82.4 billion yuan, the loss narrowed to 41.3 billion yuan in 2023, and the profit in 2024 was about 7.5 billion yuan, and the cumulative loss in three years still exceeded 110 billion yuan.

Tiantian Fund Network shows that as of September 29, the yield of China-Europe Fund mixed funds in the past six months was 26.70%, higher than the industry average of 23.14%. The yield in the past year has been 31.33%, lower than the industry average of 32.50, and the long-term return stability needs to be strengthened.

As of June 30, 2025, the stock scale of China-Europe Fund was 25.634 billion yuan, close to half of the 47.796 billion yuan at the end of 2021; the scale of hybrid funds was 167.575 billion yuan, shrinking more than half of the 336.829 billion yuan at the end of 2021, and the two totaled nearly 200 billion yuan.

The principle of wooden barrels tells us that it is important to make up for shortcomings in time. Moreover, in the face of the reshuffle and reshaping market cycle and the increasingly fierce competition among peers, there is no need to allow too many trials, wrong judgments, stagnation and hesitation. How to achieve balanced development in these multi-line tasks will directly affect the next industry status and competitiveness of China-Europe Fund.

As Dou Yuming emphasized at the press conference, true systematic upgrades cannot be achieved overnight, and it is only the beginning. It is expected that to see the substantial results of systematic reform, it will still take about ten years of continuous investment and iteration.

In other words, this transformation is a strategic layout that focuses on the future. It not only concerns the self-innovation of a company, but also another signal that the public fund industry has entered the system-driven process. With the deep propositions of core capacity building and transformation stress testing, can China-Europe Fund successfully explore it?

10 years are too short, so I have to seize the day. With one death every day, no contribution is made, the market never lets down companies that focus on the market and are fund-oriented.