Recently, China Asset Management Association (hereinafter referred to as the Association) issued a document detailing the application requirements and fund filing requirements of private fund managers. According to the association, from September 10, applicants can submit materials through the Ambers system. China Fund News reporter learned that some institutions are eager to try and expressed their intention to apply for private asset allocation managers. However, there are not many institutions in the industry that are expected to reach the relevant application threshold, so it is estimated that only some qualified private placements can allocate large-scale assets in the future, with the goal of pursuing long-term returns. In addition, asset allocation managers will bring great changes to the FOF industry.
Private equity asset allocation manager debuts.
Private placement is divided into three categories according to the professional management classification of 20 17: securities investment fund managers, equity venture capital fund managers and other investment fund managers. Private equity fund managers will be the fourth category.
Le Jiaqing said that it is very important to increase the types of asset allocation funds, which will make the types and structures of private equity funds in China more perfect. In the medium and long term, the allocation of large-scale assets plays a decisive role in the appreciation of wealth. He also believes that the introduction of asset allocation managers will promote the development of excellent private equity funds and FOF management companies to all formats, reduce management costs and benefit investors.
Zhou Ronghua believes that the main reason for introducing asset allocation managers is that in the past two years, the awareness of the wealth management industry has been continuously improved, and the diversification of asset allocation has attracted investors' attention. "Private equity asset allocation managers are formally included in the scope of supervision, which is a further improvement of the regulatory system in the allocation of large-scale assets."
In fact, the introduction of private asset allocation managers has been brewing for a long time, and many private equity institutions have also made preparations for this, and some private placements are also actively preparing to declare.
Le Jiaqing said: "It is estimated that in addition to traditional asset management institutions such as banks and brokerages, the demand for large-scale asset allocation by private equity companies at the head is more clear." He also revealed to reporters that Haobu intends to apply for a private asset allocation manager. At present, we are actively preparing for the declaration of management qualification according to the requirements of the association.
Zhou Ronghua said that third-party wealth management institutions that attach great importance to the allocation of large-scale assets will actively transform into fourth-class institutions. This change of identity not only means that the consignment responsibility of wealth management institutions will be transferred to the entrusted responsibility, but also helps them to be further recognized by investors.
Private asset allocation managers have strict entry barriers.
The manager applying for private asset allocation requires at least one institution controlled by the same actual controller to become an ordinary member of the association; Or a private placement manager registered in the association for more than 3 years, with an average annual scale of not less than 500 million yuan in the last 3 years and becoming an observer member.
According to the data of official website Association, as of the end of May this year, there were 258 private fund managers who were ordinary members; At the same time, Haifeng Science and Technology data shows that there are currently 673 private observer members registered for three years and with a scale of over 500 million. Therefore, a rough calculation shows that there are 93 1 private placement institutions that meet the application conditions of asset allocation fund managers, which is less than 4% of the total private placement.
At the same time, the application manager also requires that the same actual controller can only control one private asset allocation manager; And after the registration is completed, the actual controller continues to hold shares for not less than 3 years; In addition, there should be at least two full-time senior managers with more than 3 years of asset allocation experience or more than 5 years of asset management experience at home and abroad.
Le Jiaqing said that compared with the registration conditions of securities and equity private equity managers, the regulatory authorities put forward higher standards for asset management experience, management scale and experience of key personnel of real controllers of asset allocation managers, which should reflect the long-term, stable and professional requirements for managers.
In addition, regarding the filing of asset allocation funds, it is required that the initial scale is not less than 50 million yuan, the duration is not less than two years and it is closed; FOF requires more than 80% to invest in products such as private placement and public offering, and no more than 20% to invest in a single product, and controls the requirements of leverage ratio, strict fund custody and information disclosure, as well as related party transactions and single investor funds.
Xu Li analyzed, "In terms of investment, setting requirements such as closed period and initial scale is conducive to the implementation of the asset allocation plan. Real asset allocation aims at long-term return, especially to achieve cross-category allocation, and the closed period of equity investment is relatively long. For example, the reason why insurance funds realize asset allocation is because liabilities are relatively stable for a long time. In terms of compliance, the strict requirements on leverage ratio, custody, information disclosure and related party transactions are actually to promote the standardized and healthy development of the private equity industry. On the threshold, putting forward high requirements for actual controllers, executives and equity is conducive to the rapid development of large financial institutions and private equity institutions with brand and scale advantages. "
Zhou Ronghua also said that the product threshold requirement of 50 million yuan and the provisions on asset allocation methods and allocation weights were rarely explicitly mentioned in the relevant provisions of the previous three types of private equity institutions, which indicated that the regulatory authorities hoped to select more excellent and fully qualified private equity institutions to allocate assets in large categories by clarifying more details.
The FOF industry will undergo major changes.
The association stipulates that private placement funds should mainly adopt the investment method of fund in fund (FOF), and more than 80% of the invested fund assets should be invested in registered private placement funds, publicly raised funds or other legally established asset management products. The industry believes that FOF has developed in full swing in recent years, and hopes to achieve the second smoothing of risks and returns through asset allocation. However, there are still many problems in the initial development, such as the pursuit of star effect and sales mix, but the product performance is not satisfactory. Now the establishment of private asset allocation manager will bring earth-shaking influence to the future FOF industry, or trigger institutional reshuffle, and the concept will be more mature.
Li Boyuan, vice president of Matrix Capital, believes that the new regulations point out the long-term direction for the development of private equity FOF business. In the future, FOF will become a very important part of the private equity industry. At the same time, FOF institutions with strong investment and research foundation and brand effect will usher in rapid development.
Le Jiaqing said that since large-scale asset funds are natural fof, with the development of such funds, the private equity industry will develop more rationally. Perhaps some private equity funds will only face fof in the future, and their investments can largely avoid the adverse effects caused by frequent or irrational redemptions by individual investors.
In addition, some institutions believe that the advantages of cross-asset allocation are expected to be realized. Xu Li said that in the past, private placement fof was divided into securities fof and equity fof, which were invested in securities funds and equity funds respectively, while private placement funds could make "cross-category" investments to realize real multi-asset and multi-category allocation. In addition, due to the high application threshold of private equity fund managers, small and medium-sized private equity FOF institutions still face great challenges.
Zhou Ronghua said that due to the relatively high threshold, there will be no blowout in the scale of private asset allocation managers in the short term. The long-term sustainable development of the industry environment established through strict screening can be expected. This development vein originates from the FOF industry, and in the short term, all parties may focus on the details of the use of FOF and excellent FOF funds.