Public fund profits hit a record high, who will be the "King of Profit"?

Special Topic: The 2025 Fund Annual Report Season Kicks Off—Top Public Funds’ “Trillion-Yuan Battle” Upgrades, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ruixin Leads in Net Profit, and the “Profit Ranking” Shuffles Big Time

All 2025 public fund annual reports have been released. Full-year profitability for public funds reached 2.61 trillion yuan, setting a record high. Looking at profits by individual fund, broad-market index ETFs stood out. The Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF became the “most profitable single fund of 2025,” with profits of 785.16 billion yuan.

Many fund managers, in their annual reports, look ahead to 2026. Their consensus on the market is becoming increasingly clear.

Year-on-year profits double

In 2025, public funds showed a pattern of “profit across all categories, with equity taking the lead.” More than 20,000 fund products together generated 2.61 trillion yuan in profits—double the 2024 figure. This has already surpassed the profit data from the market boom in 2020, reaching a record high.

By product type, equity funds became the absolute profit-making mainstay. Stock funds generated 1.13 trillion yuan in profit, hybrid funds generated 0.87 trillion yuan, and together they contributed more than 70% of total market profits. In addition, bond funds, money market funds, QDII funds, and commodity funds each recorded profits in excess of one trillion yuan. FOFs and other categories also posted relatively strong profits, enabling public funds to achieve profitability across all product categories.

Commodity funds had the highest profit growth rate. In 2025, commodity fund profits were 103.794 billion yuan, a sharp increase of 551.07% versus 2024, ranking first in growth rate among all categories. Meanwhile, profits for fixed-income funds saw a year-on-year decline. Bond funds’ 2025 profits were 186.525 billion yuan, down by more than half from 2024; money market funds also fell sharply versus 2024.

Broad-market ETFs make the most money

Judging by profits of individual funds, broad-market index ETFs performed particularly well. Of the top 20 funds by profit, 19 were stock and commodity funds; ETFs occupied 18 spots, becoming the clear star.

The Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF, with profits of 785.16 billion yuan, became the “most profitable single fund.” Next was the E Fund CSI 300 ETF, with profits of 559.88 billion yuan. The 华夏 CSI 300 ETF and the E Fund ChiNext ETF both exceeded 40 billion yuan in profit. The Southern CSI 500 ETF and the J. P. Morgan?—嘉实 CSI 300 ETF? both exceeded 30 billion yuan in profit. On the one hand, major benchmark indexes in A-shares surged significantly in 2025, boosting fund net asset values. On the other hand, the trend of investors using broad-market ETFs to access the market strengthened, and the dual combination of broad-market ETF scale and returns pushed up their profits.

For active equity funds, the Rayli? (睿远成长价值) Growth Value Hybrid A fund had profits of 9.454 billion yuan, becoming the most profitable active fund. The Xingquan? (兴全合润) Dividend? Hybrid A and the Noah? Growth Hybrid A ranked second and third with profits of 7.034 billion yuan and 6.103 billion yuan, respectively. From an industry allocation perspective, many of these leading-profit active funds focus heavily on the technology sector. Profits ranked relatively high for funds such as the 东方新能源汽车 theme hybrid, the 中欧时代先锋 股票A, the 中欧新蓝筹 hybrid A, the 兴全商业模式 hybrid (LOF) A, 富国天惠成长 hybrid (LOF), 摩根新兴动力 hybrid, and 中航机遇领航 hybrid, among others.

Commodity funds such as Gold ETFs and Silver LOFs also posted relatively strong profits. Driven by factors including rising risk-avoidance sentiment, central bank gold purchases, and weakening USD credit, gold’s safe-haven and value-preservation attributes became more prominent, propelling growth in both gold ETF scale and returns. Among them, the Hu’an Gold ETF and the Bosera? (博时黄金ETF) Gold ETF achieved profits of 23.690 billion yuan and 10.955 billion yuan respectively, becoming the “two profit giants” among commodity-type funds.

Finding common ground among fund managers

In 2026, will the profit-generating effect of public funds be sustainable? How do fund managers view returns and risks in this year’s market? Reporters compiled and reviewed more than 4,900 annual reports of active equity funds, along with QDII and commodity funds, to identify the core consensus among fund managers.

The first keyword is “AI.” “AI (Artificial Intelligence)” was mentioned more than 4,000 times in fund annual reports, unquestionably making it the hottest topic. In 2026, many fund managers still see the market’s main line as revolving around AI. AI is not only the investment theme throughout the year, but also an important driver of changes in market risk appetite and structural market opportunities. In 2025, AI infrastructure (computing power, chips) performed well. In 2026, fund managers judged it to be the key year for large-scale commercialization of AI applications.

Ouyang Liangqi, manager of the E Fund Strategic Emerging Industries stock fund, which performed excellently over the past year, said in its annual report that as inference expands from AI coding (artificial intelligence coding) to Agent (intelligent agents), the scope of AI applications is expected to expand significantly. The fund manager of the Jin? (创金合信) Software Industry stock fund also said that 2026 will be a key year for large-scale commercialization landing of AI Agents—shifting from narrative to performance realization. However, some fund managers also remind that certain AI-related underlying assets have already reached high valuations, and investors should be wary of the risk that performance fails to meet expectations.

The second keyword is “fundamentals.” Fund managers generally believe that structural opportunities in the market in 2026 will still exist, but more attention needs to be paid to fundamentals. For example, the fund manager of the 嘉实 Environmental Protection & Low-Carbon stock fund said in its annual report that after the market’s rise in 2025, the overall A-share market has returned to a reasonable level in history. In 2026, the direction of the market will be more guided by fundamentals.

The third keyword is “volatility.” Several fund managers pointed out that in 2026, due to factors such as uncertainty in overseas markets and elevated valuations of some industries, market volatility will increase. For example, the fund manager of the Jin? (创金合信) Software Industry stock fund said in its annual report that the geopolitical landscape is becoming increasingly complex, which will periodically pressure the market’s risk appetite and cause capital to flow from high-volatility growth sectors to traditional safe-haven assets, thereby exacerbating market volatility. The fund manager of the 中航远见? (领航) hybrid fund said in its annual report that it will focus on implementing AI on-device applications, seek and allocate to on-device investment targets that benefit significantly, but also suggested that investors watch the possibility of intensified valuation volatility in the sector.

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