On August 14, China Universal Fund announced that index investing veteran Bei Bei Guo, citing "internal company job adjustments," resigned from her final four Nasdaq series QDII products. This marked the end of a period where the deputy director of the Index Investment Department, over 36 days and through five separate announcements, resigned from a total of 16 products, reducing her managed assets from RMB 48.1 billion to zero.

As a benchmark figure for China Universal Fund's index product line, Bei Bei Guo's complete exit goes beyond a simple personnel change. Since the start of the year, the index division has seen multiple fund managers undergo a high-frequency cycle of appointments and departures, with the entire team shifting towards a more collaborative, team-based management model. Concurrent with this reshuffling, a wave of product liquidations is also unfolding. Several launch-type funds are facing their three-year milestone, with pension FOFs and index launch-type products triggering liquidation one after another. At a new peak of RMB 1.26 trillion in assets under management, this leading public fund company is moving past its rapid expansion phase and entering a new stage focused on clearing existing products and restructuring its framework.

36 Days, 16 Products Liquidated: An Index Team Earthquake

The August 14 announcement was the final act in Bei Bei Guo's resignation saga. The speed and breadth of her departures are rare among top-tier public funds: July 8: Resigned from the CSI 800 ETF, Biomedical ETF, and New Energy Vehicle ETF. July 20: Resigned from the CSI Biotech Index (LOF), CSI Medical & Health ETF Link, and CSI Traditional Chinese Medicine ETF. July 27: Resigned from the CSI Medical & Health ETF and CSI Traditional Chinese Medicine ETF Link (LOF). August 4: Resigned from the CSI Major Consumer ETF, CSI Major Consumer ETF Link, CSI New Energy Vehicle Industry Index (LOF), and Gold & Precious Metals (QDII-LOF-FOF). August 12: Resigned from the Nasdaq 100 ETF, Nasdaq 100 ETF Launching Link (QDII), Nasdaq Biotech ETF, and Nasdaq Biotech ETF Launching Link (QDII).

Over 36 days, 5 announcements, and 16 products, her managed assets dropped from RMB 48.147 billion at the end of the first quarter to zero, with all announcements citing "internal job adjustment." Bei Bei Guo is no ordinary figure. A PhD in Financial Engineering from the University of Science and Technology of China, she joined China Universal Fund in June 2015, serving for 11 years. As the Deputy Director of the Index and Quantitative Investment Department, she was a pioneer in the company's index business. The Nasdaq 100 ETF she managed delivered a return of over 118% in less than 3.5 years, and several other Nasdaq and gold products also achieved strong results during her tenure, earning her the nickname "Index Goddess" within the industry. While this success was partly due to the strong performance of the Nasdaq and gold markets in recent years, her ability to manage such large capital flows and consistently deliver stable tracking error and excess returns speaks to her deep expertise in index investment management.

In recent years, Bei Bei Guo consistently managed over 16 funds, sometimes up to 21, with a stable AUM of over RMB 35 billion, peaking at over RMB 58 billion. During the crucial phase of China Universal Fund's index product line expansion from billions to hundreds of billions, her role was clearly more than just a nominal fund manager. When a key player holding core cross-border products with a strong track record clears all her managed funds, the market naturally questions whether this is an internal adjustment or a sign of intention to leave. The succession plan also involved a major reshuffle. The Nasdaq and gold funds previously managed by Bei Bei Guo were taken over by Wuqiong Le. Wuqiong Le herself had resigned from 7 index products since May, including 4 in August. On August 12, she took over 4 Nasdaq QDII products. Combined with the Hong Kong Stock Connect Information Technology ETF and Gold & Precious Metals (QDII-LOF-FOF) she took on in the previous two months, she has had a "6 entrances, 7 exits" year, now managing 19 products with an AUM of RMB 46.096 billion. Wuqiong Le is a 12-year veteran at China Universal Fund, but her performance is not as strong as Bei Bei Guo's, with a three-year investment return of 11.14%, trailing the CSI 300 Index's 20.07% over the same period.

Hao Sun took over 4 products like the Consumer ETF and Hong Kong Stock Connect Consumer ETF from Bei Bei Guo and Wuqiong Le in August, and also launched 1 new Grain ETF, adding 5 products this month. His managed products have seen a "9 entrances, 11 exits" adjustment this year, with his latest total AUM at RMB 44.861 billion. Jin Dong took over 5 products, mainly medical-themed funds, from Bei Bei Guo, and 3 products from Wuqiong Le. Including 2 new launches, he has added 10 products in the past month, has a "13 entrances, 6 exits" record for the year, now managing 21 products with an AUM of RMB 24.424 billion. Additionally, index fund manager Yang Yan has a "4 entrances, 6 exits" record for the year, concentrated in the first half, now managing 19 products.

The backdrop for this intense reshuffling is regulatory tightening on fund managers overseeing too many funds. This issue was particularly pronounced in China Universal Fund's index team, where several managers managed over 15 products, and some even exceed 20. Many managers have AUM in the tens of billions. In this massive product transfer, the problem of managers juggling too many funds persists. The changes appear drastic but are essentially a rearrangement. Why is the company willing to make such significant personnel changes to a research line with decent performance at this point? The answer might lie in a shift of business focus. In recent years, China Universal Fund has clearly tilted towards index products. In 2026, 22 of the 38 newly launched products were index funds (57.89%); in 2025, 35 of 54 new products were index funds (64.81%). The latest AUM for index funds is RMB 237.748 billion, a 7.5% increase from the end of last year, and a 67.28% increase in 2025, more than doubling in two years. Non-money market ETFs have expanded from 56 to 77 in the past year, with AUM growing from RMB 74.098 billion to RMB 128.394 billion.

The logic of the index business differs fundamentally from active equity. Products are homogenous, fees are low, and success depends not on a manager's individual stock picks but on scale, operational efficiency, and tracking quality. This means index teams must move towards a platform-based, industrialized model. The biggest question for the market is whether this large-scale rotation can maintain the tracking accuracy and excess return levels of the original products and safeguard the experience of fund holders. Beyond the core changes in the index line, several veteran fund managers in the active equity division are also adjusting their managed products. In July, Jin Yang resigned as manager of the China Universal Digital Future Hybrid Fund, which was taken over solely by Lei Ma, ending the co-management model. Chang Zhang, who focused on the medical sector, resigned as manager of the China Universal Global Medical Hybrid (QDII) fund.

Fixed income, a core pillar of China Universal Fund's recent scale growth, underwent a key team shake-up this year. At the end of July, the fixed-income team saw a major shift. Veteran fixed-income manager Tong Liu resigned from all his bond funds, clearing RMB 28.2 billion in AUM and stepping back from frontline management. Another fixed-income manager, Peng Song, also resigned from the Xinrui Bond Fund and the China Universal Tian Tian Xin Duo Yuan Income 9-month Holding Fund. As old members exit, the company is accelerating the recruitment of core talent. Liqiong Zeng, a senior fixed-income leader, joined the team, taking over several core pure bond products and becoming a new core figure. Simultaneously, fixed-income managers like Wei Ding, Guang Xu, and Qing Wang are taking over existing bond funds and adding new products, completing a generational handover in the fixed-income team.

The "Three-Year Itch" of Launch-Type Funds

Alongside the intensive personnel reshuffling, the product line is also being cleared out. The "three-year exam" for launch-type funds concentrated in 2026, with many of China Universal Fund's products failing to meet the RMB 200 million scale threshold. This, combined with the personnel adjustments, forms the two sides of the company's "existing portfolio optimization" strategy for 2026: a deep restructuring of the fund manager team on one side, and the systematic elimination of mini-products on the other. Launch-type funds, which use the company's own capital (at least RMB 10 million) to align with investor interests, have a low establishment threshold, but the rule of automatic liquidation if the scale is under RMB 200 million after three years is now a looming threat. All 6 products liquidated this year are launch-type funds, concentrated in pension FOFs and index products. The most recently liquidated product, the Huazheng Specialized, Refined, Differential, and Novel 100 Index Launch-Type Fund, was established on July 11, 2023, with an initial fundraising of RMB 10.39 million, 96.21% of which was subscribed by the manager. During its three-year lock-up period, its scale peaked at just over RMB 20 million, nearly ten times short of the RMB 200 million survival line. On its final trading day (July 16), its scale was only RMB 0.19 billion.

Notably, these liquidated products are not necessarily poor performers. The Tian Fu Xin Xiang Balanced Pension FOF returned 37.86% over three years, outperforming its benchmark by nearly 17 percentage points. The Manufacturing Upgrade Research Select Fund had a cumulative return of 35.09%. The fact that these products were liquidated due to scale issues despite decent performance indicates the problem lies not in research capabilities but in distribution channels and market appeal. The latent risk of more products "waiting in line" needs attention. The China Universal Fund Pension 2035 Three-Year Holding Hybrid Fund, established on December 25, 2023, had a scale of only RMB 0.16 billion as of the end of June 2026, leaving just over three months before its three-year exam, a long way from the RMB 200 million target. Additionally, 5 non-launch-type FOFs have an AUM below RMB 50 million. The China Universal Fund Balanced Growth Three-Month Holding Fund has already triggered the liquidation warning line for 60 consecutive working days.

At a deeper level, this is a legacy issue from the industry's past practice of rapidly expanding product lines. To quickly enter new tracks, fund companies used the low-entry barrier of launch-type funds to launch a batch of new products, leading to the creation of many mini-funds. Even with small scales, these products consume resources for research, trading, information disclosure, and back-office operations. As the industry shifts from scale expansion to quality improvement, this large number of mini-funds becomes a liability, making supply-side contraction an inevitable choice.

Scale Reaches New Heights, But Performance Shows Structural Divergence

Wind data shows that as of the end of the second quarter of 2026, China Universal Fund's total AUM reached RMB 1.26 trillion, a record high. Its non-money market fund AUM was RMB 773.8 billion, moving its industry ranking from 9th back to 6th. Breaking down the structure, fixed-income and index funds drove the "growth engine." Bond fund AUM grew significantly by 29.2% in Q2 to RMB 366.105 billion, the highest in the company's history. While index fund AUM is smaller than bonds and money market funds, its growth rate has been fast in the past two years. Historically, China Universal Fund was known for its active equity investing. The founding team leader, Lijun Lin, explicitly set the company's positioning as "China's stock selection expert" in its early days. At the end of 2019 and 2020, its hybrid fund AUM ranked second in the industry, behind only E Fund Management. At the end of Q2 2021, hybrid fund AUM peaked at RMB 341.336 billion. During this period, the company cultivated a group of star fund managers with AUM in the hundreds of billions, including Xinwei Hu (Consumer group), Jin Yang (TMT group), Jiang Liu (Medical group), and Research Director Jienan Lao.

However, since the second half of 2021, market style shifts and a bear market in A-shares led to sustained outflows from active equity funds. China Universal Fund's hybrid fund AUM shrank significantly, falling to RMB 130.7 billion by the end of 2024, a 62% drop from its peak. The AUM managed by its star fund managers also saw substantial declines. Hybrid fund AUM began to recover in the second half of 2025, reaching RMB 203.7 billion by the end of Q2 2026. Despite this, the company's active equity funds accumulated a total loss of RMB 24.8 billion from 2021 to Q2 2026, making it the only top-tier public fund not to have returned to profitability during this period. Even though the technology sector rallied in Q2, leading to an active equity profit of RMB 54.4 billion (second best in the industry), the funds experienced net redemptions of 9.9 billion units, creating a unique phenomenon of "profit growth without share growth." Over the past three years, the overall performance of China Universal Fund's active equity products has been improving, signaling a recovery in its research capabilities. With its scale returning to the RMB 200 billion mark, the market is watching to see if this former "stock selection expert" can rebuild investor trust and return to its previous industry peak through sustained excess returns.