In September, CITIC Securities and Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management jointly hosted the 2026 China Wealth Management Forum, unveiling the 2026 Wealth Allocation White Paper. The report offers a comprehensive outlook on industry trends, macroeconomic allocation strategies, major asset class approaches, and comprehensive wealth management solutions, showcasing both cutting-edge academic research and industry innovation.

Tsinghua University's Dean of the School of Economics and Management, Bai Chongen, delivered a welcome address emphasizing the role of academic research in driving high-quality industry development. He noted that China's economic growth and household wealth accumulation have entered a new phase, with residents facing increasingly diverse allocation choices, thereby requiring deeper professional expertise in wealth management. He highlighted multiple pathways through which academic research can empower the industry, including understanding investor behavior, building systematic asset allocation frameworks, and fostering deeper collaboration between academia and industry.

At the forum, CITIC Securities executive committee member Shi Benliang underscored the strategic importance of wealth management in China, emphasizing that the nation's wealth pool now combines scale advantages with robust growth momentum, positioning it as a key global growth engine. He introduced CITIC Securities' "iTrust 100" wealth management brand launched earlier this year, designed around four sub-brands that address clients' needs across different life stages. Additionally, the firm has developed a three-tier product system and launched innovative offerings such as the POLAR multi-asset index and "Xinbu Changtou" private fund investment services. By mid-2026, CITIC Securities' wealth management products under custody had reached trillions in scale. On the topic of AI-driven industry transformation, Shi stated that while AI has dramatically expanded the boundaries of wealth management and shifted technology's role from back-office cost reduction to front-line productivity and client relationship enablement, it cannot fully replace human advisors. He argued that wealth management is built on trust, interaction, and consensus, and its ultimate future lies in the perfect fusion of profound human insight and cutting-edge technology.

The White Paper also provides forward-looking analysis from a global perspective. Global financial wealth is steadily growing, with financial assets accounting for an increasing share of total wealth. China, holding 14% of global financial assets in 2025, achieved 15.0% growth that year, becoming a significant contributor to global financial wealth expansion. BCG projects global financial assets will grow at a compound annual rate of 7.0% from 2026 to 2030, slightly slower than 2025. Regional growth rates are diverging further, while China's ongoing shift from non-financial to financial assets, combined with its large base and steep growth trajectory, positions it to remain a powerful engine of global wealth accumulation. The report identifies three key macro drivers behind China's wealth demand: rising household wealth, declining interest rate benchmarks, and population aging.

Regarding AI applications in domestic wealth management, the White Paper notes the sector is still in its early stages with enormous future potential. However, regulatory standards and data governance are foundational. AI-driven wealth management requires clear institutional frameworks governing application details, while effective data management is essential for AI to deliver real value. From the investor demand perspective, the report offers diverse product and service systems alongside wealth allocation solutions, while delving into how to guide "long-term and correct" investment behavior. Extensive behavioral finance research and real-world cases demonstrate that investors are susceptible to cognitive biases and emotional influences, such as chasing trends, mistimed trading, the disposition effect, and limited attention. Common biases include anchoring and conservatism, overconfidence and optimism, and selective attention to salient information while overlooking long-term fundamentals. The White Paper recommends abandoning short-term market timing in favor of long-term allocation, establishing disciplined investment frameworks to overcome psychological weaknesses, and leveraging professional external guidance to achieve sustainable portfolio growth.

Yu Jianfeng, Chair Professor of Finance at Tsinghua University and Director of the Global Wealth Management Research Center, provided academic insights into the White Paper, challenging traditional investment strategies. He pointed out that conventional textbooks advocating stock-bond allocation with decreasing stock exposure as one ages may not be optimal. Backtesting against U.S. market data shows that an all-equity allocation can generate higher wealth accumulation efficiency over a lifetime. He also highlighted differences in active fund management between China and the U.S. markets. In the U.S., achieving excess returns through active fund selection is difficult—comparing Warren Buffett's portfolio to the S&P 500 over 20 years shows negligible alpha. However, in China's stock market, actively managed equity funds have significantly outperformed broad indices, with private funds performing even better. Yu emphasized that combining assets with low correlation across categories can substantially improve risk-adjusted returns.

Chen Gang, Co-Director of CITIC Securities' Wealth Management Committee, interpreted the White Paper from a business perspective, drawing on extensive client behavior data. He identified three structural changes in capital markets: increasing standardization with more index and standardized products, deepening globalization with assets priced globally, and growing institutionalization with evolving mainstream investors. Based on CITIC Securities' long-term client insights, Chen shared behavioral patterns across allocation-oriented versus trading-oriented investors, different age groups, and varied education backgrounds. He outlined the firm's strategies: segmenting clients by classification and tier, accelerating international expansion across 13 countries, upgrading from "one pot of money" to "four pots of money" corresponding to different life stage needs, and developing buy-side advisory services through institutional reform and service reinvention.

A roundtable discussion moderated by Xie Rengming, Head of CITIC Securities' Product Support Center, brought together academic experts and industry leaders—including Tsinghua University's Zhu Yingzi and Liu Chun, Yi Fund's Zhang Qinghua, Paradigm Intelligence's Hu Shiwei, and Zhong Lun Law Firm's Tang Mengyuan—to explore global wealth management in the AI era. When asked what asset would be most valuable looking back from 2035, panelists unanimously converged on people: "the best asset is investing in yourself, starting with good health," "invest in character—in the AI age, the scarcest resource is principled judgment," "entrust most to professional institutions while keeping some for value diversity," "invest in yourself differently across life stages," and "cultivate yourself as an individual with independent character."