China to Expand Personal Pension Fund List to Include Mixed-Asset Bond Funds

China's regulators have issued a notice to public fund managers to include certain secondary bond funds with equity exposure and bond-oriented mixed funds in the personal pension fund list, according to Jiemian News. The notice sets six entry requirements, including a three-year operating history, daily open subscriptions, at least 500 million yuan in assets at each of the latest four quarter-ends, limits on equity exposure, better-than-median drawdowns over the past three years, and a cap on institutional ownership. The first batch will use data through the end of the second quarter of 2026, and fund companies must submit one candidate product each by September 8. The notice also allows managers and custodians to offer fee discounts on Y-share classes for eligible products on a market-based basis. After the first round, the screening process will become quarterly, with managers able to apply within one month after each quarter-end if they have qualifying products that have not yet been included. Regulators will also set up a dynamic evaluation and incentive mechanism, under which managers with compliant operations, strong performance and healthy Y-share growth may be allowed to add more eligible products. Jiemian News said the move follows earlier expansions of China's personal pension system. In November 2022, five ministries including China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and China's Ministry of Finance launched the personal pension implementation rules, with an initial list of 129 funds. In December 2024, China's securities regulator added 85 equity index funds, bringing the total to 284. By the end of September 2025, the list had grown to 302 products across FOFs, index funds, enhanced index funds and ETF-linked funds.