Trillions in public funds: Huatai Wealth's "Stock Picker" turns into a "Passive House"

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Source: Zi Shi Hui

A billionaire fund manager, the “consumption god” Hu Xinwei, has gone silent.

Author | Zi Shi Fenzi

With the annual reports being disclosed, the public fund companies’ annual performance is gradually revealed.

As of March 30, at least 43 fund companies have disclosed their 2025 annual financial data. Among them, 11 fund companies—including E Fund, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China–Ruiyin Xin Fund, GF Fund, Southern Fund, 华夏基金, 富国基金, 兴证全球基金, 博时基金, 招商基金, 汇添富基金, and Huatai Securities Asset Management—have net profits exceeding 1 billion yuan.

As one of the leading public funds with assets under management of over 1 trillion yuan, while 汇添富基金’s performance is still among the industry’s top tier, it has long lost its former glory, and in 2025, revenue increased but profits did not.

Orient Securities’ 2025 annual report shows that 汇添富基金 achieved operating income of 5.66B yuan, ranking fifth in the industry, up 17.19% year over year; net profit was 1.42B yuan, down 8.14% year over year.

(Wind, “Zi Shi Hui” chart)

In 2021, 汇添富基金’s net profit reached 3.26B yuan. Since then, it has fluctuated and trended downward. From 2022 to 2025, the figures were 2.09B yuan, 1.42B yuan, 1.55B yuan, and 1.42B yuan, respectively. Operating income also followed a similar trend: from 2021 to 2025, it was 6.79B yuan, 5.37B yuan, 4.83B yuan, 5.66B yuan, and 4.48B yuan, respectively.

Once known for equity investments, 汇添富基金 has built the “stock-picking expert” brand. But in recent years, as returns from active equity investments have declined and the “billion-yuan fund manager” halo is no longer, the company’s equity development has also shifted from “stock-picking expert” to a “passive home.”

01

Client maintenance fees have long remained above 30%

汇添富基金’s revenue mainly comes from two components: management fees and sales service fees.

In 2025, management fee income was 1.24B yuan (combining all share types, same as below), which was 411 million yuan higher than 2024 and up 10.1% year over year; sales service fee income was 11.3k yuan, up 155 million yuan from 2024 and up 14.31% year over year, and also hit a new high since 2020.

However, revenue growth has not kept pace with growth in fund size.

As of the end of 2025, 汇添富基金’s public-offering fund asset under management (AUM) was 1.13 trillion yuan, ranking ninth in the industry, up 215.19B yuan from the end of 2024, a year-over-year surge of 23.5%. Among them, the size of fixed-income funds and equity funds was 735.66B yuan and 358.99B yuan, accounting for 64.94% and 32%, respectively, with year-over-year growth of 16.01% and 39.09%.

The growth rate of fixed-income fund size broadly matches that of revenue. But the year-over-year growth rate of equity funds far exceeds it.

Breaking it down, the core driver of equity fund size growth comes from passive equity products. As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, the AUM of active equity funds was 168.38B yuan, up 141.76B yuan from 26.61B yuan at the end of 2024, a year-over-year increase of 18.77%. Passive equity fund AUM was 172.5 billion yuan, up 108.18B yuan from 64.32B yuan at the end of 2024, a year-over-year jump of 59.46%.

For new funds, in 2025 汇添富基金 launched 54 new funds, with total initial offering size of 36.45B yuan.

On the expenditure side, the main items include operating costs, client maintenance fees (trailing commissions), custody fees, transaction commissions, and other expenses.

汇添富基金 did not disclose the most core operating costs.

Client maintenance fees are one of the biggest expenditure items. According to Wind data, in 2025 this expense for 汇添富基金 was 1.57B yuan, up 12.13% year over year, accounting for 34.92% of management fees.

Among top public fund managers, 汇添富基金’s client maintenance fee as a share of management fees has long been above 30% and has continued to rise. From 2021 to 2024, the proportions were 32.86%, 32.84%, 33.24%, and 34.29%, respectively. For E Fund, 华夏基金, and Southern Fund—also top public fund managers—the proportion of client maintenance fees to management fees from 2021 to 2025 was consistently lower than that of 汇添富基金.

As for custody fees, in 2025 汇添富基金’s custody fees were 906 million yuan, up 84.762 million yuan compared with the same period in 2024 and up 10.32% year over year. Transaction commissions (distribution commissions) were 391 million yuan, down 2.72% year over year, ranking sixth in the industry; other expenses were 183 million yuan (including audit fees, legal fees, information disclosure fees, etc.), up 101 million yuan compared with the same period in 2024, and up 123.17% year over year, soaring.

What’s especially regrettable is that in 2025 汇添富基金 also received regulatory penalty notices. The annual report shows that on November 11, 2025, the company was ordered by the Shanghai CSRC to make corrections due to compliance internal controls, investment operations, and other issues (such as fund sales), among others. On the same day, three senior executives of the company were each issued warning letters by the Shanghai CSRC due to compliance internal controls and investment operations; other issues (fund sales); compliance internal controls. At present, the company has passed regulatory inspection and acceptance.

02

A frantic build-out of index products

Aggressively developing index-type products is not only an industry trend, but also an inherent development need for 汇添富基金.

Back when active equity funds under 汇添富基金 delivered strong returns for investors thanks to excellent stock-picking ability and sharp sensitivity to market conditions, the company also built a “stock-picking expert” golden brand.

But in recent years, the investment capabilities of the company’s active equity funds have faced growing doubts.

As of March 30, among the company’s 36 active equity funds, their performance over the past three years lagged their respective benchmarks for the most recent period, accounting for 40% of the number of trackable products. Among them, 23 products had returns that lagged their benchmarks by 10 percentage points or more over the past three years.

If the time horizon is extended to five years, the results look even worse. Of the 64 trackable active equity funds by realized/trackable return, 42 had five-year returns that could not beat the performance benchmarks. Among them, 20 funds lagged the benchmarks by more than 20 percentage points.

Overall, as of March 30, the average five-year returns of the company’s stock funds and hybrid funds were 10.29% and 8.54%, respectively—both below the industry peers’ average for similar products.

Even “Big Brother” Hu Xinwei, the manager of active equity funds, has long gone silent.

汇添富基金 currently has 99 fund managers. There are 6 active equity fund managers with assets under management exceeding 10 billion yuan: 胡昕炜, 马翔, 杨瑨, 张韡, 马磊, and 劳杰男. Among them, 马磊’s years of experience as a public fund manager are still less than 3 years.

The largest product managed by 胡昕炜 has an AUM of up to 84.76M yuan, but that is 1.82B yuan less than the peak of 1.73B yuan at the end of the second quarter of 2021. Currently, the number of funds he manages is 8; he manages 6 active equity funds and 2偏债混合型 funds.

In 2011, 胡昕炜 joined 汇添富基金. He once served as an industry analyst, and his career as a public fund manager began in April 2016, with nearly 10 years of experience. He once achieved solid results by heavily holding “premium consumption” stocks such as liquor and home appliances, earning him the title of “consumption god.” Later, as market style shifted and rotation of market hotspots changed, he fell from the pedestal.

Hu Xinwei’s sector index performance for short and medium terms has also been poor. As of March 30, his index’s one-year and three-year returns were 8.31% and -19.05%, respectively, lagging the performance benchmarks by 6.42 percentage points and 30.28 percentage points, respectively.

Looking specifically, as of March 30, among the six active equity funds managed by 胡昕炜, only 汇添富价值领先 beat its benchmark over the past three years; the other five funds all lagged the benchmark by more than 10 percentage points.

The four funds steered by Hu Xinwei—汇添富价值创造, 汇添富中盘价值精选A, 汇添富消费升级A, and 汇添富消费行业—also all underperformed their benchmarks over the past five years.

In terms of top holdings, as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, the top ten holdings of the funds managed by 胡昕炜 were Midea Group, Tencent Holdings, Kweichow Moutai, Haier Smart Home, China National Offshore Corporation? Wait—海大集团, Gree Electric Appliances, Fuyao Glass, Contemporary Amperex Technology (Ningde), Wanhua Chemical, and Chunfeng Power. The industries involved include home appliances, automobiles, agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, basic chemicals, food and beverage, media, among others.

From October 1, 2025 to March 30, 2026, the declines of Midea Group, Tencent Holdings, Haier Smart Home, 海大集团, Gree Electric Appliances, Fuyao Glass, and Chunfeng Power were 0.15%, 27.36%, 13.9%, 20.57%, 2.83%, 21.07%, and 16.12%, respectively.

The overlap in holdings is also very serious. As of the end of 2025, the top ten holdings of 汇添富价值创造 and 汇添富价值领先 that were the same were 7. Among the top ten holdings of 汇添富消费升级 and 汇添富消费精选 (two-year holding) funds, 6 overlapped.

Besides 胡昕炜, other star fund managers cultivated independently by 汇添富基金, such as 杨瑨 and 劳杰男, are also facing situations where the performance of certain products is not good.

杨瑨 steers products with 6 funds; his managed AUM at the end of 2025 was 93M yuan. Among them, there are 5 active equity funds.

As of March 30, among the three products managed by 杨瑨—汇添富优质成长A, 汇添富数字生活六个月持有, and 汇添富数字未来A—their appointment returns all fail to beat the performance benchmark; the appointment returns for 汇添富优质成长A and 汇添富数字生活六个月持有 are both negative.

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Responsible editor: Guo Yutong