Wealth Management Companies Face Rating Supervision; Industry Development Shifts to "Quality First"

◎ Reporter Han Songhui

The State Administration of Financial Supervision recently released the “Interim Measures for the Supervision and Rating of Wealth Management Companies” (referred to as the “Measures”), which stipulate that the supervision ratings of wealth management companies are divided into levels 1 to 6 and S level. The measures also clearly define the risk characteristics and regulatory measures for companies at different levels.

Different levels of institutions will face differentiated regulatory measures. Zeng Gang, director of the Shanghai Financial Development Laboratory, told Shanghai Securities News that this will have a key impact on the development of wealth management companies’ businesses.

The Measures specify: 1. and 2. level wealth management companies operate steadily with relatively good risk conditions, mainly supervised through non-remote and routine oversight, with priority support for innovative pilot businesses such as pension wealth management; 3. and 4. level companies have certain or more significant risk issues, requiring strengthened supervision in key areas, necessary corrective measures, control of incremental risks, reduction of existing risks, and prevention of risk spread; 5. and 6. level companies have serious risk problems, requiring real-time monitoring of risk changes, strict restrictions and resolution of high-risk businesses, and orderly implementation of risk disposal or market exit; S-level companies are those undergoing restructuring, takeover, or market exit, and do not participate in the annual supervision rating.

Zeng Gang analyzed that: levels 1 and 2 will open up space for business growth, further amplifying the advantages of leading wealth management firms; levels 3 and 4 face strict control of incremental risks and reduction of existing risks, with some high-risk business expansion limited; levels 5 and 6 are subject to strict restrictions on high-risk activities and may face market exit, with business operations entering a contraction and rectification phase.

According to the Financial Supervision Administration, as of the end of December 2025, there are 32 existing wealth management companies nationwide with a total wealth management product scale of 30.7 trillion yuan, accounting for 92% of the total market scale of 33.3 trillion yuan, making them an important part of China’s asset management industry.

A relevant official from the Financial Supervision Administration stated in response to reporters’ questions that some wealth management companies face issues such as unclear development positioning, the need to improve professional investment capabilities, the ongoing deepening of net value transformation, and imperfect risk control.

The Measures set up six rating modules: corporate governance, asset management capability, risk management, information disclosure, investor rights protection, and information technology, with respective weightings of 10%, 25%, 25%, 15%, 15%, and 10%. They also include targeted scoring and deduction items, as well as level adjustment factors, to comprehensively evaluate the operation management and risk status of wealth management companies.

Zeng Gang said that the weighting of rating indicators highlights the regulatory focus. Asset management capability and risk management each account for 25%, meaning that investment research ability, product design, and risk prevention will become core drivers of business development for wealth management companies. This will promote companies to strengthen their research teams, improve risk control systems, abandon a simple scale-expansion approach, and shift toward refined asset management capabilities.

“If a wealth management company’s rating drops, it will be restricted from adding new related businesses. If the relevant business is not restored the following year, existing businesses must also be reduced,” Zeng Gang noted. This will push wealth management companies to integrate supervision rating management into their daily operations to avoid shrinking their business scope due to risk issues.

A relevant official from the Financial Supervision Administration stated that the Measures adhere to the principles of “positive incentives” and “reverse constraints,” which will promote the allocation of regulatory resources in line with institutional operational capacity and risk conditions. By leveraging the “guiding role” of ratings, it can encourage wealth management companies to establish prudent and steady business philosophies and benchmark against industry leaders to identify gaps and deficiencies.

(Edited by Qian Xiaorui)

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