The total scale of public funds has reached a new high. As of the end of the third quarter of this year, the net asset value of public funds in China has exceeded 32 trillion yuan. With the continuous development of the social economy and the awakening of residents' financial awareness, public funds, as a relatively stable investment method, have become an important tool for mass financial management. Experts believe that larger scale also means greater responsibility, and the public fund industry should further strengthen its core competitiveness, become the "main force" in serving residents' wealth management, and play a greater role in serving the real economy. According to data released by the China Securities Investment Fund Industry Association, as of the end of the third quarter of 2024, there were a total of 163 public fund management institutions in China, including 148 fund management companies and 15 asset management institutions that have obtained public fund qualifications. The net asset value of public funds managed by these institutions totaled 32.07 trillion yuan. This is the first time that the total scale of public funds in China has exceeded 32 trillion yuan, and it is also the fifth time this year that the scale of public funds has reached a historical high after February, April, May, and July. This milestone data is a comprehensive reflection of the rapid development of the public fund industry, the increasing confidence of investors, and the strengthening of public fund management institutions. Public funds are important tools for family financial management and residents' retirement. Sun Enxiang, the head of wealth management at Paipai Network, stated that the continuous increase in the size of public funds since the beginning of this year is mainly due to four reasons: firstly, the public fund industry has gained the favor of a large number of investors by launching products that meet market demand; Secondly, investors are becoming more rational and their recognition of the public fund industry is gradually increasing, which has prompted more and more investors to choose public funds; Thirdly, under the active guidance of regulatory policies, investors' confidence in public funds has increased; The increasing demand for residents' wealth management and financial management has created more demand for purchasing public products. The stable operation of China's capital market provides a favorable investment environment for public funds. Especially since September, the stabilization and rebound of the A-share market have increased investors' risk appetite, attracting more funds from the bond and money markets to flow into the stock market, driving the growth of public funds. From the data, the scale of products other than monetary funds has shown an upward trend compared to the previous period. As of the end of September, the scale of QDII funds, stock funds, hybrid funds, and bond funds was 594.457 billion yuan, 4.27 trillion yuan, 3.75 trillion yuan, and 6.6 trillion yuan, respectively, with a month on month increase of 12.35%, 29.67%, 13.49%, and 0.62%. During the same period, the size of the monetary fund was 13.03 trillion yuan, a decrease of 2.68% compared to the previous period. The sustained growth of the scale of public funds is mainly due to the improvement of investors' financial management needs and the support of the market environment Wang Lu, a fund analyst at the Shanghai Securities Fund Evaluation Research Center, said that with the increase in residents' income and investment awareness, more and more individual investors tend to manage their wealth through fund products. Public funds have low investment thresholds, strong liquidity, and high product transparency, making them an important choice for the general public in financial management. At the same time, the deepening development of financial markets has increased the diversity and attractiveness of fund products, meeting the needs of investors with different risk preferences. In addition, policy support and the popularization of financial technology have made fund subscription and redemption more convenient, further promoting the increase of market participation. With the deepening reform of China's capital market and the increasing diversification of investor demand, the development of segmented types of public funds has also shown new characteristics. According to Wind data, as of the end of the third quarter of this year, passive index funds represented by ETFs (exchange traded open-end index funds) held a market value of 3.16 trillion yuan in A-shares, surpassing the total market value of active equity funds of 2.89 trillion yuan for the first time during the same period. In the eyes of industry insiders, the rapid growth of ETF size is the result of multiple factors such as its own characteristics, increased market maturity, and changes in investor structure. The popularity of ETFs facilitates investors to track market indices, obtain average market returns, promote competition and innovation in the public fund market, and drive product upgrades and service optimization of fund companies. In December last year, the social security fund included ETFs in its investment scope; In April of this year, the new "National Nine Measures" proposed the establishment of a rapid approval channel for ETFs to promote the development of index based investment; Since September, a series of favorable policies have created favorable conditions for the development of ETFs, including interest rate cuts, reserve requirement ratio cuts, reduction of existing housing loan interest rates, and the creation of new monetary policy tools, all of which have contributed to the rapid growth of the ETF market. At the same time, the basic system of China's capital market is becoming increasingly perfect, and the effectiveness of the A-share market is gradually improving, which is conducive to the development of passive index funds. With the increasing recognition of passive investment by more and more investors and the continuous improvement of market maturity, the trend of passive funds surpassing active funds in terms of shareholding market value is expected to continue. Dai Jingxia, senior analyst at Morningstar (China) Fund Research Center, believes that investors' recognition of passive investment, changes in market environment, and advances in financial technology will all drive the continued development of this trend. The popularity of passive funds can be seen from the recent hot sales of the CSI A500ETF fund. On October 15th, the first batch of 10 CSI A500ETFs were officially launched. According to the previously announced listing announcement, the total fundraising scale of 10 CSI A500ETFs is about 20 billion yuan. A large number of institutional investors actively entered the market through the first batch of CSI A500ETF. As an important incremental fund in A-shares this year, ETF index products are continuing to bring more medium - and long-term vitality to the market. Jiashi Fund stated that the index plays the role of a "baton" for capital flow in the passive investment ecosystem, adapting to the needs of high-quality development and continuously optimizing the core index system with more representational power. It is one of the actions taken by China's capital market to promote investment and financing balance and promote high-quality development of the capital market through index investment. The high-quality core index provides the market with better price signals and investment benchmarks, better reflecting the trend of macroeconomic structural adjustment and industrial transformation and upgrading; On the other hand, it is also conducive to better connecting the asset and fund ends, guiding the rational allocation of financial resources, supporting high-quality enterprises to grow and strengthen, and better serving national strategies. In recent years, the deepening reform of China's capital market has been continuously promoted, and a "roadmap" has been formulated for the high-quality development of the public fund industry with enormous potential for future development. In April 2022, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the High Quality Development of the Public Fund Industry"; In March of this year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Supervision of Securities Companies and Public Funds and Accelerating the Construction of First Class Investment Banks and Institutions (Trial)"; In September of this year, the Central Financial Office and the China Securities Regulatory Commission jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting Medium - and Long Term Funds to Enter the Market", vigorously developing equity public funds, supporting the steady development of private securities investment funds, and steadily reducing the comprehensive fee rate of the public fund industry, providing strong guarantees for the long-term development of the public fund industry. Experts believe that there is still significant room for development in China's public fund market, and the scale is expected to further increase. With the growth of China's economy and the accumulation of residents' wealth, residents' assets need to be preserved and appreciated. Public funds have low entry barriers, transparency, and high standards, making them an important choice for residents' financial management. Meanwhile, in recent years, regulatory authorities have taken multiple measures to promote the high-quality development of the public offering industry, further expanding the space for industry development. Standing at a new starting point of 32 trillion yuan, where should public funds go next? In serving residents' wealth management, public funds should adhere to the investor return orientation, improve diversified and adaptable product and service systems, and be inclusive social wealth managers. Wang Lu stated that based on existing achievements, public funds should continue to focus on the following dimensions in the future: strengthening product innovation to meet the personalized needs of different investors; Optimize investor companionship to enable them to choose and manage fund investments more rationally, reducing the volatility caused by irrational trading; Enhance the sense of responsibility of managers, practice giving benefits to investors, and improve investors' sense of gain and trust. Public institutions should explore the use of technological means, such as big data analysis and artificial intelligence, to improve the efficiency and accuracy of investment decisions Sun Enxiang mentioned that by promoting the intelligent transformation of the public fund industry and real-time monitoring and analysis of market data, it is conducive to timely discovering market changes and adjusting investment strategies. Intelligent investment can also provide investors with more personalized services, helping public fund companies customize investment strategies and asset allocation plans for investors. In serving the real economy, public funds, as professional institutional investors, should play a role in leading social capital to gather in strategic emerging industries, high-tech industries, green and low-carbon development and other fields, strengthen patient capital, and help develop new quality productivity and build a modern industrial system. E Fund stated that firstly, it will continue to enhance its core capabilities in investment research, vigorously develop equity public funds, and promote a virtuous cycle of "technology industry finance". The second is to adhere to the concept of long-term investment and value investment, and strengthen the "platform based, team based, integrated, and multi strategy" investment research system. Thirdly, actively practicing responsible investment, laying out green products, and promoting green development. Adhere to the value orientation of putting investors first, and help investors share the dividends of new quality productivity development Li Yimei, General Manager of Huaxia Fund, believes that on the one hand, public funds should actively guide social funds to transform into technology capital through the issuance of technology themed products, providing precise and efficient funding supply for the development of strategic emerging industries and the transformation of traditional industries. On the other hand, in addition to consolidating the professional foundation of new quality productivity investment research and continuously improving technology investment capabilities, it is also necessary to guide investors' expectations for investing in new quality productivity related fields, strengthen investors' confidence in investing in new quality productivity related fields, optimize their investment experience in new quality productivity related industries, and make these medium - and long-term funds "willing to invest, able to stay, and develop well". (New Society)