Recently, another round of “price war” in the banking industry began. The reporter noted that since this year, many banks and financial management subsidiaries, including China Merchants Bank Co.Ltd(600036) , Hua Xia Bank Co.Limited(600015) , China Everbright Bank Company Limited Co.Ltd(601818) have reduced the rates of relevant products, and some even reduced to 0 yuan to further benefit investors.
This is not the first time that the banking industry lowered the product rate. When equity public funds were cold last year, many banks also discounted the fund commission rate. According to the insiders interviewed by the reporter, whether the rate of financial products is reduced or the rate of fund consignment is discounted, its original intention remains unchanged. It is a change made by the bank in response to the current market environment, which can be regarded as a marketing method to attract more investors, expand the scale of financial management and seize the market share.
However, it should be noted that the reduction of the rate of bank financial products does not mean that the bank is completely “0 charged”. In addition to the regular management fees and sales service fees, bank financial products also include custody fees, subscription fees, redemption fees, excess management fees, etc. banks usually adjust according to the market conditions, and investors can learn by querying the product manual.
some financial product rates reduced
In 2022, many banks and financial subsidiaries have launched preferential product rate activities in order to attract customers, mainly involving sales fees, management fees, etc.
For example, on February 24, China Merchants Bank Co.Ltd(600036) published two preferential rate announcements on the product bulletin board of its official website, namely, the periodic preferential announcement on the No. 5 financial product fee of Xinyin wealth management an Yingxiang solid income and stable monthly opening, and the announcement on the preferential sales service fee and fixed management fee of No. 2 financial product of BOCOM wealth management in six months. According to the announcement, the fixed management fee and sales service fee rates of the above two financial products are 50% lower than before.
In addition to the above two financial products, the reporter found that the rates of xingyin financial products, Industrial Bank Co.Ltd(601166) and other financial products sold by China Merchants Bank also decreased. However, the largest decline is the related products of China Merchants Bank, a financial subsidiary of China Merchants Bank, and some rates have been reduced to 0.
For example, the sales fee of Jikai No. 2 mixed financial management plan has decreased from 0.5% / year to 0, and the preferential time is from February 25 to April 1, 2022; The investment management fee of the No. 3 enhanced fixed income financial management plan set by Zhaorui health and abundance one year has been reduced from 0.2% per year to 0, and the preferential time is from February 19 to May 31, 2022.
From the perspective of the industry, it is not only the products of CMB financial management that the sales fee has dropped to 0, Hua Xia Bank Co.Limited(600015) also announced that since January 25, the sales commission rate of a share and B share of Huaxia financial management cash management product No. 3 will be adjusted, and the sales commission rate of a share and B share will be adjusted to 0 from the previous 0.3% / year; Rizhao bank also said recently that the bank plans to give phased concessions to the sales fee and management fee of the designated three financial products in the second investment cycle, and the sales rate and management rate after the discount are 0.
More and more banks “end up” reducing relevant rates, which is mainly affected by market competition. Liu Yinping, an analyst at rong360 Digital Technology Research Institute, said that since this year, the overall performance of financial products has been poor, coupled with the downturn of the stock market, resulting in a phased decline in the net value of financial products of some allocated equity assets, a large decline in individual financial products, and even below the initial net value, which has a negative impact on investors. Lowering the product rate can make it easier for investors to get the performance comparison benchmark. It is also a phased promotion to benefit consumers. It can not only retain old customers, but also attract new customers and expand the scale of financial management.
Dong ximiao, chief researcher of Zhaolian finance, also said that on the one hand, last year, the existing balance of the bank financial management market was 29 trillion yuan, with a growth rate of about 12%. The scale was relatively large, the profitability was enhanced, and nearly trillion yuan of income was created for investors, which already has the foundation to reduce the rate; On the other hand, reducing the product rate is a way to make profits. The bank financial management market is relatively stable compared with the stock market, which can better reflect the direction of Inclusive Finance.
rate downward space is limited
According to multiple financial product specifications, the fees that investors have to pay for purchasing a financial product often involve subscription / subscription fees, redemption fees, sales service fees, fixed management fees, custody fees, and some also include excess management fees. The reporter noted that in addition to the regular fees such as sales service fee and fixed management fee, the reduced rates of this round of financial institutions also include floating management fee and redemption fee.
For example, a product of China Merchants Bank financial management has taken the measure of exemption from floating management fee. According to the announcement, since February 16, as of the expiration date of the financial management plan, the purchase of Zhaorui Xinding will be opened for three months, and the fixed income financial management will not charge floating management fee.
This means that after the expiration of the product, part of the income generated beyond the performance benchmark will be owned by investors.
In addition, Everbright financial adjusted the redemption fee of related products. According to the announcement, the company will carry out the redemption fee preferential activity of sunshine gold No. 2 (eb1888) financial products from February 14 (inclusive) to December 20 (inclusive). During the inactive period, the holding period is less than 360 days, and the redemption rate is 0.50%; During the event, if the holding period is less than 360 days, the redemption rate will be reduced to 0.25%.
In the view of insiders, this aspect also reflects a trend, that is, the overall rates of bank financial management (including subsidiaries) are showing a downward trend, and more and more banks may adopt the way of reducing rates to compete in the future.
Su Xiaorui, a senior analyst at Analysys, said that this was mainly affected by three factors. The first is the macro environment. In recent years, the capital has shown a loose trend, driving the downward trend of financial income and squeezing the rate; The second is the level of market competition. With the successive establishment of bank financial management subsidiaries and the deepening influence of “new asset management regulations”, the supply side competition in the financial management market is intensifying; In addition, at the product issuance level, with the transformation of financial products to net worth, the issuance and survival scale of net worth products continue to rise, and the scale effect will also drive the rate downward to a certain extent.
However, there are also views that there is little room for the overall decline in the rate of financial products Liao Zhiming, chief analyst of China Merchants Securities Co.Ltd(600999) banking industry, analyzed that compared with the average rate level of about 0.5% in overseas markets, the management fee rate of some financial products in China is higher, but in fact, the overall rate level of financial products is relatively low.
“In the future, this part of the products with high management fee rate may have room for decline. Especially recently, the whole stock market is in a callback state, and the customer return is not high or even in a loss state. It is also necessary to reduce the management fee rate to promote the sales of such bank financial products, but the overall decline is limited.” Liao Zhiming said.
However, it should also be noted that reducing the rate of financial products to 0 does not mean “0 charge”. After all, there are many types of fees involved in financial products. Different financial products have different pricing strategies. The decline of single rate does not mean the overall reduction of rate, and some bank financial products have some preconditions for rate adjustment, such as holding period, etc. For investors, they can check the product manual one by one to avoid “losing big for small”.
