It has the three characteristics of robustness, long-term, and inclusiveness——

　　The first batch of pension financial products "test the waters"

　　Our reporter Guo Ziyuan

　　Starting from December 6, the first batch of pilot financial management products for the elderly were officially put on sale in Wuhan, Chengdu, Shenzhen, and Qingdao.

The Economic Daily reporter was informed that, as of now, the market recognition of pension financial products is relatively high, and some financial institutions have indicated that they may increase the scale of fundraising based on subsequent sales.

　　From the beginning of the pilot project to the implementation of the product, it took less than 3 months to manage the financial services for the elderly, and the progress was remarkable.

On September 10, 2021, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the “Notice on Launching the Pilot Program of Pension Wealth Management Products” and selected “four institutions in four places”, namely ICBC Wealth Management in Wuhan and Chengdu, CCB Wealth Management and China Merchants Bank Wealth Management in Shenzhen, Everbright Wealth Management launched a pilot project in Qingdao.

　　The first batch of pilot pension wealth management products are all closed-net-worth products, with three distinctive features of "stableness, long-term, and inclusiveness". The minimum purchase amount is only 1 yuan, the term is 5 years, and the risk level is mostly low to medium. Low fees for subscription and redemption.

　　"In the next step, the financial regulatory authority should summarize the experience of the pilot financial management products in a timely manner, and promote it to more regions and financial companies in a timely manner, so as to give full play to the proactiveness of the pension financial products in meeting the public’s pension needs and improving the multi-level and multi-pillar pension insurance system. Role." said Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of China Merchants Union Finance.

　　For the needs of the elderly

　　Is old-age financial management exclusive to the elderly?

Which types of investors are suitable for purchase?

Before the product was officially launched, the market generally had such doubts.

　　In fact, pension financing is aimed at individual investors who have pension needs and pursue the steady appreciation of pension funds, not limited to the elderly.

"Encourage investors to accumulate in advance, start planning for the elderly from a young age, and mobilize investors' mid- and long-term preventive investment needs through mid- to long-term strategic arrangements." said Pan Dong, general manager of Everbright Financial Management.

　　Therefore, "long-term nature" has become one of the characteristics of financial management for the elderly. The products sold by the four pilot institutions are all closed-end products with a term of 5 years.

The relevant person in charge of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission expressed that he hopes to cultivate the concept of “long-term investment in long-term income, value investment to create value, and prudent investment with reasonable return”.

　　Considering that the long closure period may cause insufficient liquidity, some products have also set up two special arrangements.

One is that investors can distribute dividends on a quarterly or monthly basis after holding for a certain period of time (such as 6 months); the second is to establish a "liquidity emergency mechanism" under special circumstances, for example, when investors encounter serious illness, early redemption is allowed .

　　“The next step is to improve the transfer mechanism of unexpired wealth management products based on the characteristics of pension wealth management products, and meet the liquidity management needs of some investors through market-based transfers,” said Dong Ximiao.

　　In addition to "long-term nature", pension financing also has the characteristics of "inclusiveness".

From the perspective of the purchase threshold, the initial purchase amount is only 1 yuan, in order to cover the widest investment group; from the perspective of the rate structure, the cost of pension financial products is generally lower than other financial products on sale, and no excess management fees are charged. Fully concession investors.

"The implementation of special preferential rates for financial management for the elderly, zero subscription fees, zero sales and service fees, and management fees are only 0.1%." Pan Dong said.

　　How should investors in demand buy?

The pilot products are only available in Wuhan, Chengdu, Shenzhen, and Qingdao. Investors in other regions are temporarily unable to purchase them.

Investors in the above four places can choose between offline and online, or bring their local personal ID cards to the sales outlets of the corresponding institutions, or purchase them through online banking, mobile banking and other channels.

According to the pilot requirements, the total amount of all pension financial products purchased by individual investors does not exceed 3 million yuan.

　　Dedicated risk management mechanism

　　In order to ensure the stable operation of old-age financial management and enhance the ability to resist risks, the four pilot institutions have set up a risk management mechanism. The product design focuses on security strategies and mainly invests in fixed-income assets.

　　Specifically, the dedicated risk management mechanism includes smoothing funds, risk reserves, and impairment reserves.

"For each product, ICBC Wealth Management has set up a separate smoothing fund to achieve the goal of'cutting peaks and filling valleys' to reduce net value fluctuations." said Wang Haifeng, vice president of ICBC Wealth Management, when investment income exceeds the performance comparison benchmark within a certain period of time. At the time, extract the excess part according to a certain proportion, and if it encounters the extreme unsatisfactory market income, it will be replenished to this product. If there is still surplus when the product expires, it will be fully replenished to the corresponding product.

　　Wang Haifeng said that the risk reserve is accrued at 20% of the product's fixed management fee, which is higher than the accrual ratio of general wealth management products. "At the same time, we accrue impairment reserves in accordance with the latest accounting standards and combined with the expected credit loss method."

　　On the basis of safety, investors generally pay attention to the profitability of financial management for the elderly.

The pilot products are all net value products, non-guaranteed, and floating income.

Up to now, the lower limit of the performance comparison benchmark of the four institutions' products is concentrated in 5% to 5.8%, and the upper limit of the performance comparison benchmark is concentrated in 7% to 8%.

Taking the "lower limit of 5% and upper limit of 7%" as an example, this means that combined with market situation and investment strategy analysis, the probability of product maturity return falling within this range is greater.

　　How to balance safety and profitability?

"In terms of investment strategy, pension financial management adopts a prudent asset allocation strategy, and the risk rating is defined as R2, which means lower risk." Pan Dong said that the bank's wealth management multi-asset and multi-strategy advantages should be used to invest in bonds and non-standardized debt. Assets, long stocks, quantitative neutral strategic assets, asset management products, etc., help investors move through cycles and smooth out fluctuations.

　　It is worth reminding that investors should carefully read the sales documents when purchasing products.

"According to the characteristics of pension wealth management products, some new content has been added to our sales documents, for example, key terms such as key information brochures, purchase limit reminders, risk management mechanisms, and humanistic care have been specially formulated." Wang Haifeng said.

　　Open the front door, block the side door

　　The first pilot product is just a prologue.

Pilot institutions have stated that they will continue to carry out comparative research on pension systems and strategies under the guidance of supervision, and combine factors such as the age structure of Chinese residents, investment preferences, and capital market characteristics to continuously innovate product strategies and enrich multi-level pension finance. Product supply.

　　Why is the pension financial management pilot important?

One of the meanings is to "open the front door and block the side door", which is also an important thinking of the supervisory authority.

"In recent years, some financial institutions have launched some financial products with the word'old care', but most of them do not have the real pension function and do not meet the requirements of stability and long-term." Dong Ximiao said that for this reason, the regulatory authorities have strengthened rectification. Intensified, most financial institutions have removed related "old age" wealth management products.

　　Dong Ximiao said that some non-financial institutions took advantage of the loopholes to conduct illegal fund-raising and financial fraud in the name of "old-age financial management", which seriously damaged the legitimate rights and interests of middle-aged and elderly people.

　　For this reason, it is imperative to carry out pilot projects of financial management products for the elderly and promote formal financial institutions to "remove bad money with good money".

"We need to improve market constraints and create an information platform for the wealth management industry." said Guan Shengyi, vice president of the banking wealth management registration and custody center. The center is taking the lead in formulating the "uniform standard for bank wealth management information disclosure". Disclosure platform, support and guide pilot institutions to carry out information disclosure through a unified platform, provide investors with authoritative and reliable information inquiry channels, and effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of investors.

　　Despite the remarkable progress in financial management for the elderly, the concept of financial management for the elderly of Chinese residents still needs to be improved.

"In terms of pension fund reserves, currently mainly rely on government and corporate pensions. As for planning old life through personal commercial pensions, many people lack awareness and participation in this concept." said Xie Guowang, president of CCB Wealth Management, the next step How to convert the long-term funds in the hands of investors into funds invested in pension finance and how to effectively promote the development of pension finance business is an important part of building a modern pension finance system.