Oriental Fund has officially welcomed its new chairman. On August 24, Oriental Fund announced that following board approval, He Junyan has formally assumed the role of chairman, with General Manager Liu Hongpeng taking on the additional position of vice chairman while also serving as chief financial officer, relinquishing his interim chairman duties. Meanwhile, Zhang Ke has stepped down as deputy general manager due to work adjustments, and Hao Likun no longer serves as CFO.

This marks the conclusion of a roughly five-month interim chairmanship period that began when former chairman Cui Wei departed in March. Public records show that He Junyan has deep ties to Northeast Securities, having previously served as general manager of its planning and finance department, general manager of its client asset management headquarters, chief financial officer, vice president, and executive vice president. He currently holds concurrent roles as party committee member, vice chairman, and president of Northeast Securities, as well as chairman of Dongzheng Rongda Investment Co., Ltd. Liu Hongpeng, who joined Oriental Fund in 2011, has risen through the ranks from general manager assistant to vice general manager and then general manager, establishing himself as a core executive cultivated internally.

Oriental Fund stated that these executive changes are primarily driven by long-term development needs, representing a normal arrangement to refine corporate governance and optimize its talent pipeline. Looking ahead, the company will maintain strategic stability and continuity while enhancing investment management capabilities, performance outcomes, and investor satisfaction, pursuing a path of specialization, differentiation, and excellence.

However, for the newly appointed He Junyan, the Oriental Fund he now leads differs significantly from just a few months ago. In the second quarter of 2026, driven by the expansion of bond funds and the surge in AI-themed funds, Oriental Fund experienced an unprecedented surge in assets under management. Yet simultaneously, the equity business has developed new structural challenges: a single blockbuster product has achieved a breakthrough, with the Oriental AI Theme Hybrid Fund rapidly growing into a 35-billion-yuan active equity fund, while other traditional equity products remain mired in fragmentation, with many funds falling below 100 million yuan and suffering from prolonged performance pressure. Converting the scale explosion from a single sector rally into stable, sustainable equity competitiveness may prove to be the more realistic test for the new management team.

Half-Year Scale Surge of 40 Billion Yuan Pushes Oriental Fund Past 160 Billion Yuan

Compared to the end of 2025, Oriental Fund's asset expansion accelerated markedly in the first half of 2026. According to Northeast Securities' 2026 semi-annual report, as of the end of June 2026, Oriental Fund managed 68 public offering funds with total assets under management reaching 166.668 billion yuan, a 31.42% increase from the end of 2025. Non-money market fund assets stood at 153.448 billion yuan, up 39.98% from the end of 2025.

Wind data indicates that as of the end of the second quarter, Oriental Fund's total AUM was approximately 166.669 billion yuan, an increase of about 51.972 billion yuan from 114.697 billion yuan at the end of the first quarter, representing a single-quarter surge of over 45%. Non-money market assets grew from approximately 101.3 billion yuan to 153.448 billion yuan, with industry ranking climbing from 46th to 37th place. The change is even more pronounced compared to the end of 2025, when total public fund AUM was 126.819 billion yuan and non-money market assets were 109.621 billion yuan. In just six months, total scale increased by nearly 40 billion yuan, while non-money market assets grew by more than 43.8 billion yuan.

The Northeast Securities semi-annual report shows that in the first half of 2026, Oriental Fund generated operating revenue of 375 million yuan, up approximately 21.10% from 310 million yuan in the same period last year. Net profit reached 52.6037 million yuan, up about 28.78% from 40.8468 million yuan a year earlier. The simultaneous growth in scale and profitability provides a favorable starting point for the newly installed management team.

Fixed Income Remains the Foundation, Heavy Reliance on Tech Sector

As of the end of the second quarter of 2026, Oriental Fund's bond fund assets reached 97.949 billion yuan, still dominating the company's total AUM. Meanwhile, hybrid fund assets have surged to 51.775 billion yuan, and equity fund assets stand at approximately 3.455 billion yuan, with the two categories combined reaching 55.230 billion yuan.

Compared to the end of 2025, the product structure has shifted dramatically. At that time, bond fund assets were 88.272 billion yuan, hybrid funds stood at 18.940 billion yuan, and equity funds were only 2.212 billion yuan. Six months later, bond fund assets have grown by roughly 9.7 billion yuan, while hybrid fund assets have expanded by more than 32.8 billion yuan.

The primary driver behind the equity scale surge is not a broad recovery in traditional equity products, but rather the singular success of the Oriental AI Theme Hybrid Fund. As of the end of 2025, this fund's scale was under 4.9 billion yuan. However, entering 2026, fueled by rallies in AI, semiconductor equipment, and related sectors, the fund's assets expanded explosively. By the end of the first quarter of 2026, it had reached 10.789 billion yuan; by the end of the second quarter, it had surged further to 35.125 billion yuan, adding approximately 24.3 billion yuan in just one quarter and growing more than six-fold from the end of 2025, making it one of the largest active equity funds in the market.

Performance is the most direct reason for this rapid capital inflow. In the first half of 2026, the A-share class of Oriental AI Theme Hybrid Fund delivered a return of 166.72%, with fund profits reaching 16.555 billion yuan in the second quarter alone. As of the end of the second quarter, its top ten holdings included Zhongke Feice, Xinwei Micro, AMEC, Hua Hai Qing Ke, NAURA, and Cambricon, with positions clearly concentrated in semiconductor equipment and domestic computing power supply chains.

Fund manager Yan Kai's AUM has correspondingly ballooned, reaching approximately 40.68 billion yuan by mid-2026. From one perspective, Oriental Fund's longstanding problem of overly small equity scale saw marked improvement in the first half of 2026. But new issues have emerged: the current equity scale is heavily dependent on a single product, the Oriental AI Theme Hybrid Fund. As of the end of the second quarter, total equity and hybrid fund assets stood at 55.230 billion yuan, with the AI fund alone accounting for 35.125 billion yuan, representing over 60% of the combined equity and hybrid fund scale.

Yet this reliance comes with significant concentration risk in the tech sector and a single star product. In stark contrast to the AI fund's meteoric rise, the former star product, Oriental New Energy Vehicle Hybrid Fund, continues to shrink. As of the end of 2025, its scale was approximately 9.019 billion yuan; by the end of the first quarter of 2026, it had fallen to 7.507 billion yuan, and further to 6.330 billion yuan by the end of the second quarter, contracting nearly 30% in six months. The fund's year-to-date return stands at -15.34%, with a six-month return of -15.79%. The ongoing adjustment in the new energy sector continues to pressure both fund NAV and scale. From new energy to artificial intelligence, Oriental Fund's core equity scale remains heavily concentrated in high-cyclical sector-themed products.

Behind the AI Fund Surge, Multiple Underperforming Products Remain Trapped Below Survival Threshold

The explosion of the AI fund has not simultaneously resolved issues across all of Oriental Fund's equity products. Among certain traditional active equity funds, problems of small scale, poor long-term returns, and persistent exposure to liquidation risk continue to persist.

Li Rui is one of Oriental Fund's core equity fund managers cultivated over the long term, currently serving as general manager of the equity investment department and a member of the public offering investment decision committee. His flagship product, the Oriental New Energy Vehicle Hybrid Fund, still maintains a scale of 6.330 billion yuan, though this represents a significant decline from historical highs. His other products, however, are generally much smaller. As of the end of June 2026, the A and C share classes of the Oriental Auto Industry Trend Hybrid Fund had scales of approximately 27 million yuan and 45 million yuan respectively, totaling about 72 million yuan. Launched in 2022 with an initial raise of approximately 258 million yuan, the fund has since shrunk by over 70%. To improve investment management, Oriental Fund added Zhang Yang as co-manager with Li Rui in February of this year.

The Oriental High-End Manufacturing Hybrid Fund also remains in mini-fund status. As of the end of the second quarter of 2026, its A-share class scale was only about 31 million yuan. As of August 21, its cumulative return since inception was approximately -35.11%. The product has previously issued multiple liquidation risk warnings due to net asset values persistently below 50 million yuan, and has maintained operations by convening fund holder meetings to amend termination clauses in the fund contract.

Although Oriental Fund's overall scale reached new highs in the first half of 2026, some equity funds with considerable tenure remain trapped in insufficient scale. This contrast is precisely the most noteworthy aspect of Oriental Fund at present. On one hand, the 35.1-billion-yuan Oriental AI Theme Fund became a market star within six months; on the other, several products remain below 50 million yuan or hover near liquidation risk thresholds. This reflects not merely differences in product returns, but rather the profound internal divergence within Oriental Fund's equity business.

In the first half of the year, Oriental AI Theme A gained 166.72%, Oriental Innovation Technology rose 95.16%, Oriental Dragon gained 61.34%, and Oriental Select rose over 30%. Products such as Oriental Low Carbon Economy A, Oriental Emerging Growth, Oriental Pillar Industry, and Oriental Yue also posted gains exceeding 20% in the first half.

However, for a fund company, a single phase of sector-driven performance does not fully demonstrate that the investment research system has undergone a fundamental transformation. The true test of public equity capability lies in the ability to consistently deliver performance across different market cycles, to cultivate multiple stable investment teams and product pipelines, rather than relying on one or two star fund managers and one or two hot sectors to drive all growth.

From this perspective, He Junyan's assumption of leadership at Oriental Fund does not involve simply addressing a "weak equity" company. Oriental Fund has evolved from a previous "fixed income dominant" structure into a new paradigm of "large fixed income scale, a surging AI equity fund, and severely fragmented traditional equity products." Yet the more challenging realities for the new management include whether the tens of billions of yuan in new assets from the Oriental AI Theme Fund can achieve client retention, whether the equity business can break free from heavy reliance on a single tech sector, whether veteran star products like the new energy vehicle fund can regain investment research competitiveness after scale shrinkage, and how numerous mini-funds can achieve performance improvement and enhanced holder experience. These are the multiple core challenges awaiting He Junyan in his new role.