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As the equity market's volatile adjustments last longer, and against the backdrop of stricter regulation and salary cuts, the financial industry has gradually shown signs of fatigue. Fund managers, once seen as standing at the top of the pyramid, have also lost some of their luster, with resignations and departures more frequent than in previous years.

Wind data shows that as of July 28, 2,594 fund products (only initial funds) have seen changes in fund managers this year. Among them, some fund managers with poor performance resigned and chose to transfer internally to positions such as researchers and fund manager assistants, while others left their original fund companies.

According to statistics from China Business News, 204 fund managers have resigned since the beginning of the year, a record high in the past nine years. During the same period, the number of fund managers who officially "debuted" this year reached 257. In the eyes of industry insiders, it is normal for fund managers to constantly "get rid of the old and bring in the new", but in recent years, the reverse flow of fund managers has increased, and there are many factors behind it.

Reverse job transfers are increasing

On July 26, Suzaku Fund issued an announcement stating that due to work arrangements, Wang Zhuangfei will no longer serve as the manager of Suzaku Anxin Return Fund from July 25, and will be transferred to a research position later. Wind data shows that he co-managed Suzaku Anxin Return with fund manager Yu Kun in September 2022, and the cumulative return during his tenure was -1.25%.

Public data shows that Zhuque Anxin Return is the first fund product managed by Wang Zhuangfei, and the management period is not even more than 2 years. During the period of participation in management, the fund size of this product has gradually shrunk. Regular reports show that the total net asset value of Zhuque Anxin Return's funds has dropped from 2.317 billion yuan at the end of the third quarter of 2022 to 172 million yuan at the end of the second quarter of this year, which is now less than one tenth of the total.

The reporter noticed that the situation of fund managers "retraining" is not an isolated case. Since the beginning of this year, many fund managers with mediocre performance have left their positions or transferred internally to positions such as researcher and assistant fund manager. For example, on July 18, Hongde Fund announced that Mao Jingping resigned as the manager of Hongde Tianli Currency and Hongde Hongli Currency Funds and transferred to a researcher.

On July 3, Xinhua Fund issued an announcement on the change of fund managers for its Xinhua Fengli and Xinhua Anxiang Duoyu regular fund managers. The original fund manager Yu Hang resigned due to "internal transfer within the company" and became an assistant fund manager. Wind data shows that as of July 3, the cumulative returns of the above two products he has managed since 2022 were 7.6% and -41.42%, respectively, and the latter did not perform well.

Yicai.com noted that previously, fund managers have been transferred to become researchers at companies such as Dongwu Fund, Guoyuan Securities, Great Wall Fund, PICC Asset Management, and Beixin Ruifeng Fund. In the view of industry insiders, fund managers' job transfers are mostly related to poor product performance and unsatisfactory assessments.

"It is indeed because of the poor performance, but considering the mentality of the employees, we still explain to the outside world that it is due to career planning." An insider from a fund company with the above case told Caixin that, generally speaking, performance is an important reason for job transfer or resignation, but it does not rule out that some fund managers feel that they are more qualified for the job of researcher after taking office and take the initiative to request it.

Generally speaking, the promotion path for investment research personnel in fund companies is relatively clear, from researcher to assistant fund manager and then to fund manager. So why are there more cases of "returning" this year? In this regard, a person from the fund marketing department in South China said that being "optimized" due to poor performance exists in all industries, and the survival of the fittest among fund managers is also an objective law of industry development.

"On the one hand, company assessments are becoming more stringent, and unqualified or bottom-ranked employees will be interviewed; on the other hand, there are no good (job-hopping) opportunities in the market now, and most fund managers with mediocre performance do not have many choices after leaving their jobs, and being able to transfer internally is already very good." A person from a leading fund company told Caixin that being a fund manager is completely different from being a researcher. Fund managers must meet the standards in terms of professional ability and personality traits, and must also have a high ability to withstand pressure and a good sense of decision-making balance.

In his opinion, the cost of cultivating talents is actually very high. A fund manager’s poor job does not mean that the researcher is incompetent. He or she can continue to demonstrate professional value in a research position.

Resignations hit a 9-year high

As the market struggles to bottom out and industry competition is fierce, the mutual fund industry is also surging, with more and more managers stepping down and leaving. Wind data shows that as of July 28, 2,594 fund products (only initial funds are counted) have seen changes in fund managers this year.

According to statistics from China Business News, 843 fund managers "said goodbye" to the products they managed. The reporter noticed that some fund managers had no funds under management or other positions in the company after they resigned. Generally speaking, fund managers who resigned in this "clearance-style" manner will also leave "quietly" soon afterwards. For example, Fan Zeng, the former fund manager of Yuanxin Yongfeng Fund, resigned from 8 products under his management at once, and then resigned to join Wells Fargo Fund.

"It's possible that the formalities were not completed when the resignation announcement was made." An industry insider who declined to be named told Caixin, "Generally speaking, most people who resign for personal reasons and don't mention internal adjustments should have plans to leave."

Judging from the data, this year's fund manager resignation wave is more "turbulent" than in the past. Wind data shows that as of July 28, 204 fund managers from 113 companies have resigned since the beginning of the year, setting a record high for the same period in the past nine years. In addition, data from the same period in the past three years showed that the number of fund managers who resigned was between 170 and 174.

According to industry insiders, in the current market adjustment context, investment research assessment requirements have been tightened, and some fund managers are also facing pressure from product performance. In the future, fund managers will continue to be frequently hired, resigned, and leave. In addition, salary limits and salary cuts have also accelerated this trend.

In fact, rumors about changes in public fund salary packages have appeared many times, from the initial circulated that fund managers' salaries would be capped at 10 million yuan, to the upper limit of 3.5 million yuan, and then to 1.2 million yuan. This year, the rumor has evolved from "salary cap" to "salary refund", such as "annual salaries of more than 3 million yuan must be refunded in full".

The aforementioned industry insider who did not want to be named said that in the sluggish market, fund managers are under great pressure from both performance and public opinion, but leaving the public offering platform and resources and "going private" may not necessarily have good results. Some excellent fund managers may turn from companies with strict restrictions to fund companies or asset management companies with a relatively high degree of marketization.

At the same time, some fund company personnel revealed to China Business News that the current time is also a good time to poach talents. "Excellent talent resources are always scarce. In the current environment, it is actually a good opportunity for us to find some mature fund managers to lead the team or supplement the track."

However, with the current rapid development of the industry, fund managers are still "coming up" continuously. According to statistics from China Business News, as of July 28, a total of 257 new people have taken up fund management positions this year. So far, the number of fund managers in the industry has expanded to 3,797, of which 40% have been in office for less than 3 years.

It is worth noting that among them, more than 400 fund managers have less than 100 million yuan in management scale, and 241 of them manage products below the "warning line" of 50 million yuan. If they are "forced" to liquidate, some of them will return to their positions as researchers or be "softly laid off" to find new job opportunities without products to manage.

Editor on duty: Qisan